Raul Ibanez Hits the DL and the Decimation of Hitting Crean-Up Continues

Wow, talk about how things can change in 10 days.

A couple of weeks ago, my fantasy baseball team (Hitting Crean-Up) was flying high. I was in first place, my team was in good health, and all of the my sleeper picks had been playing tremendously well (i.e. Raul Ibanez, Mike Lowell, Jason Bay, etc.)

Then I speculated about many possible explanations for Raul Ibanez’s 2009 stats and everything — from a fantasy perspective at least — went downhill. I’m still sitting in second place, but take a look at the injuries that have occurred over the past 10 days:

• Denard Span started getting dizzy, missed some time, and hit the DL.
• Roy Halladay pulled his ground and went on the DL.
• Scott Down sprained his freaking big toe and hit the DL.
• Derek Jeter was hobbled and had to a miss game and is day-to-day (and hopefully will not hit the DL!)

And then today, the Philadelphia Phillies announced that my current team MVP, Raul Ibanez, had been placed on the DL with a strained left groin. And all of these injuries happened in the last 10 days!

This is still a developing story so I’m not sure how long Ibanez will be out, but I sure hope it’s not long. He has been an absolute revelation and has gone from a guy I was hoping could produce like a #2 OF to being a guy I’m counting on to produce like a #1.

Looks like Scotty Pods will be getting the nod for me today. I was thinking about starting him anyway (though for Lowell at UTIL, not for Ibanez) to hopefully pick up some steals, but certainly this is not a solution I want to employ long-term.

Get well and come back soon Raul. Your fantasy owners miss you already.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Bud Selig and the MLB gods had placed a curse on my team. But then again, that would be the thinking of a Cubs fan. These are the stretches during baseball’s dog days of summer that separate winners and losers. Time to suck it up, strap it down, and hit the waiver wire. And then hope that Raul and the rest of my walking wounded make it back healthy soon.

* - Raul Ibanez photo found at The Bleacher Report, photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images