MLB Injury News and Fantasy Draft Analysis March 25th, 2009

With the WBC over and time winding down until Opening Day, we’re going to start getting a clearer picture of the serious versus nagging injuries.  

Time begins to be a constraint rather than a friend to medical staffs and the pressure on the athletes also begins to mount.  No matter what, the games begin to count within 2 weeks and I can’t be any happier.

Garret Anderson  is scheduled to return to the lineup on Saturday from his calf strain. Garret has been out since March 7th with the strain but he has already reportedly started running to test it.

Since it’s his land leg while hitting, his average may suffer slightly in the beginning but whatever power he has will remain intact.  Even if the average suffers initially, he still has a week before the start of the season to work things out.  

I think that his draft value shouldn’t be effected now.

Julio Pimentel for some reason has decided against surgery to reattach the ligament and broken bone in his elbow.  He's hoping that the bone would reattach and heal without the surgery and honestly I don’t see it happening.  

He likely didn’t have any draft day value to start with but this may end up hurting any value he has in the beginning of 2010.

Adrian Beltre’s shoulder is flaring up on him and given his previous shoulder issues it’s worth keeping an eye on the situation.  There hasn’t been anything in particular that would give me pause or have me wondering if he re-injured the shoulder.  

Beltre has been terrifically consistent even through injuries in the past.  It’s worth noting that in September he didn’t have a major surgery, it was to solve inflammation caused by a bone spur.  His value shouldn’t be effected on draft day.

Eric Chavez played four innings in a minor league game yesterday as he slowly makes his way back from shoulder surgery.  

Chavez has to take things extremely slowly because of his multiple surgeries on the shoulder and also because he’s had a few setbacks with it. Eric hasn’t been cleared to let loose while hitting but he is fully cleared to throw across the diamond.

Unfortunately most fantasy leagues don’t count defense and therefore this has me worried that Eric may not be the same player that he was even 3 years ago.

Justin Duchscherer supposedly has a spot on the active roster Opening Day if he’s able to throw at least 4 innings according to Billy Beane.  

To be honest, I don’t understand this.  He’s had multiple injuries in the last 3 years, jumped up greatly in innings pitched last year, and they couldn’t find the exact cause of the pain and soreness this spring.  

He’s suffered a setback or two during his rehab and now if he throws 1-2 innings in 2 starts he’ll be on the OD roster.

While I don’t think that they’d be necessarily hiding anything, I’d worry that Justin won’t be stressed enough to really gauge the arm’s true health.  

On draft day, he’s going to be a high risk/high reward pick so you should bid accordingly.

Kelvim Escobar is light years ahead of his original timeline from labrum surgery last July. He’s already pitching in minor league games (albeit with a pitch limit) but has reportedly reached the mid-90s on his fastball.

Usually recovery takes about 12 months from labrum surgery but every once in a while, the stars align and the athlete is able to return very far ahead of schedule.  

This appears to be the case and he could end up being extremely cheap on draft day. If you expect 75 percent of the year, I don’t think you’d be disappointed.

Chipper Jones returned from a strained oblique and promptly went an 0-fer.  Chipper’s issue has never been talent, it’s been health.  

If you draft him based off of 400-450 ABs and then get a capable backup, you could end up getting close to top production at the hot corner.  Oblique injuries tend to linger and can pop back up again when you least expect it.  

Hopefully this will be the year that it doesn’t happen.

Manny Ramirez returned as DH on Monday from his hamstring soreness and could end up playing in the field any day now.  

Manny will be on his own timeline but as long as his head is in it, will be one of the better producers in the league.  I don’t think the injury this spring changes his draft value at all.

Cole Hamels threw close to 4 innings in a minor league game on Tuesday but all is not good.  He was only in the 82-86 mph range while he used to consistently sit in the 90-92 range when healthy.  

It was his first game action since receiving the cortisone injection so it is a good start though. He still has a way to go before coming back but it was a nice start.  

Word out of Philly is that they’re hoping he’ll be ready for around April 10th, but I think that might be slightly too far ahead of ourselves giving his current velocity.