Injury News July 2nd
With the onslaught of injury news the past several days, I’ve had to limit my analysis to the top ones that I expect will have ramifications for your fantasy team. If you like these and would like to see what else I do other than injury analysis, please check out Fantasy Baseball Strategy.
Dan Uggla
Uggla has said that he probably won’t return until Thursday July 3rd at the earliest as he remains day-to-day with his lateral ankle sprain. Thankfully, lateral ankle sprains are not usually a problem long-term as the proper care is well documented. Following the initial rest period, return to play all depends on having full range of motion and strength and minimal swelling. Since he was listed as day-to-day I would assume that this is a mild sprain.
For a quick summary and making the explanation a little easier, let’s look at a diagram courtesy of Primal Pictures.
The most common ligaments injured are the ones that are underlined and they resist inversion or turning your foot inwards. Mild sprains can stretch the ligaments but don’t tear. Moderate sprains involve tearing of the ligament fibers but not the ligament as a whole. Severe sprains involve tearing more than 75% of the fibers in the ligament.
Magglio Ordonez
Ordonez has been placed on the 15-DL with an oblique and Lat strain. I should tell you that these can linger and possibly reaggrevate if not dealt with properly. With the rash of oblique injuries the last few years, it’s becoming more commonplace for these injuries to only cost the minimum for position players.
Paul Konerko
Konerko has delayed his minor league rehab assignment because of additional soreness in his oblique after his latest BP session on Saturday. I would expect that this pushes back the timeline by 4-5 days at least so I would expect him to start a rehab assignment to come out around Thursday or Friday after trying another round of batting practice on Tuesday. This is a key reason why Magglio was placed on the DL right away.
Eric Gagne
Gagne has returned from the DL recovered from rotator cuff tendinitis and return to the club in a set-up role. After the horrors of him from August 1st of last year to present, I would expect him to only get back in the closers’ role if there was an injury. Otherwise, he might be one of the most expensive set-up men in the majors. In terms of your fantasy team, I wouldn’t count on him for anything but you might want to hold onto him for a week or two just in case.
Michael Cuddyer
Michael Cuddyer was placed on the 15-day DL with what was originally thought to be a strained tendon in his left index finger. He underwent an MRI on his left index finger on Monday however and Gardenhire said it showed that the outfielder has a sprained knuckle. Injuries to your hand, especially to the left hand in right-handed batters, can sap your power for a while. Once back it will take a few more weeks before his power is back to normal.
J.J. Putz
J.J. Putz didn’t feel any of the pain that he felt in his elbow last week after a brief catching and throwing session. These kind of sessions are just sessions of tossing the ball back and forth as if you were in your backyard. All he was doing was going through the motion so he isn’t going to be back anytime soon. Still this is good news in the case that there wasn’t any pain finally and he can hopefully begin his throwing program to get his arm back to game shape. I wouldn’t expect him back in the bullpen before August 1st.
Chipper Jones
Chipper Jones seemed likely to be headed to the DL as his injured right Quadriceps has not progressed as well as they had hoped it would (as of this posting, he is not on the DL, but expect the announcement shortly). This could be the best thing for him both in terms of chasing .400 but also being healthy enough to play at 90-95% since he will never be 100%. Sometimes athletes are their worst enemy and his toughness is in the cross-hairs. If he took care of it earlier, we may not have been playing the guessing game for the past week and a half. Of course, as I write this, Chipper is back in the lineup Tuesday night.
The best thing for him would still likely be taking the additional week or so and making sure he gets absolutely fully healthy.
Juan Pierre
Pierre was placed on the 15-day DL Monday after spraining his MCL in his knee. This ligament has an excellent blood supply so it tends to heal well on its own and very very rarely requires surgery. It still needs time to heal though and that will be about 4 weeks or so. Pierre’s value is so tightly entwined with his speed that any injury to his legs demands keeping a close eye on the situation.
Miguel Cabrera
Cabrera was pulled from the game on Monday following the second inning with a tight left hip flexor and is listed as day-to-day. Only mentioning it here just in case something comes up. Tight hip flexors can cause many issues other than straining that muscle as well including Glut strains and low back pain. Being cautious is a good thing here considering the size of Cabrera and the amount of force he puts on the area.
Roy Oswalt
Oswalt pulled his left hip abductor strain after making his warmup pitches inbetween the 6th and 7th inning on Monday. He has had groin problems before so this is something we will have to watch closely. He is listed as day-to-day but it’s something that the Astros will obviously take care with as they don’t want him to change his mechanics.
Chad Cordero
After Cordero has been rehabbing for a torn shoulder muscle the last 2 months, it has been revealed that he also has a torn labrum and is out for the rest of the season. Unfortunately, labrum surgery is not on par with Tommy John surgery in regards to returning the athlete to the previous level but there are improvements. I expect Cordero back near the beginning of May next year as it is a long hard rehab.
Alfonso Soriano
Soriano could be cleared to take batting practice as soon as this weekend which makes the Cubs even scarier. As with any hand injury a slight decrease in power is to be expected initially but he is recovering quite well it appears. Doctors will make the determination after repeat x-rays on Friday.
Eric Byrnes
Byrnes will be placed back on the DL after pulling his hamstring on Monday. The problem is that he already had some tears in both of his hamstrings already this year and Monday’s episode most likely means a lengthy stay on the DL (I’d say at least a month). There can be many causes to the repeating strains and most likely involves a muscle imbalance and scar tissue.
Felix Hernandez
Felix has been placed on the 15-day DL partly to keep him from trying to push back into playing. Most likely he will return right around July 9th when he is eligible to come off the DL.
Rafael Furcal
Furcal played in a rehab game yesterday and had a few hits. I expect him to be quickly completing his rehab because if he can play in AAA he can play in MLB. It all depends on how his back holds up after playing for 2-3 consecutive days.
And of course, he woke up with discomfort on Tuesday and was sent back to LA for re-evaluation. This is not good news so I would not rule out surgery at this point.
Andruw Jones
Jones also played in a rehab game and had a few hits on Monday. With Juan Pierre out, I expect that he too will be pushed back into the majors. It appears that he has no ill effects from his surgery so it’s only a matter of how his knee holds up playing in the field.
Willy Taveras
He left Tuesdays game with a tight/sore left quadriceps. He’s listed as day-to-day as of this writing so we’ll have to take this on face value.
Troy Percival
Percival goes onto the DL with a strained left hamstring. Given the fact that this is the second time this season that he injured his left hamstring, expect that he will be on the DL longer than the first time. Balfour was in the game last night in his place, so him and Wheeler may end up splitting save opportunities.
