Felix Hernandez, SP, Seattle Mariners

April 30, 2007 @ 16:00:00

By Chris Kolb
Edited by Ryan Dodson

Background

On Wednesday April 18, 2007, the Seattle Mariners received a tremendous blow to their pitching staff. The team's newly found ace of the staff, starting pitcher Felix Hernandez suffered a strained flexor ligament in his right elbow, causing him to leave the game early. Shortly afterwards, the Mariners placed Hernandez on the 15-day disabled list, and although results of his MRI were negative, the injury is still expected to cause some trouble for Hernandez and the Mariners this season.

The Mariners have had little to hang their hats on so far this season, other than Hernandez, and given his performance before the injury, it's completely understandable why the Mariners would be concerned. Heading into that contest on April 18, Hernandez allowed just four hits and four walks, while striking out 18 batters in the two games he played in this season. He literally dominated the high-powered Boston Red Sox offense in one of those two games, throwing a one-hit, complete-game shutout, and struck out 12 batters in eight innings of work in the team's opener against Oakland.

Although it's hard to fathom the Mariners taking a risk with their young superstar, the team is in need of his talent this season if they want to have any chance of making a run in the competitive American League West Division. That being said, it would come as a big surprise if the Mariners tried to rush Hernandez back into their pitching rotation, as they would risk losing him for a significant amount of time if his injury becomes worse in the process. Look for the team to try to battle through this injury and put together the best record they can so they'll still have a shot when Hernandez comes off the disabled list.

Fantasy Impact

In terms of the fantasy impact that this injury creates, it could make things fairly tough on Hernandez's fantasy owners, as Hernandez is the type of pitcher that many owners covet. He has the ability to pitch well into the eighth or ninth innings in most games and strikes out a large amount of batters he faces. That being said, there is no need to push the panic button just yet if you happen to be lucky enough to own Hernandez. While his injury could become more serious later on down the line, at this point it's just a strain of the ligament, so there's not much cause for worry right now.

The best thing to do in this situation if Hernandez is on your team, is to find another pitcher that can throw a big amount of innings and can get strikeouts, as those are the categories in which you'll miss Hernandez the most. One good option if he can be had in your league would be Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Javier Vazquez. Vazquez has been throwing pretty well as of late and is projected to lead the White Sox in strikeouts this season. While he might have trouble going really deep into games like Hernandez can, Vazquez is a solid option if Hernandez winds up missing more time than originally expected.

Another starting pitcher that is not widely owned in most leagues right now is Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Freddy Garcia. Despite his early struggles, Garcia has pitched well in his recent outings and is known for his high strikeout-to-walk ratio, so he could be a solid replacement for your team in the interim while Hernandez is out. 

Right now, the team is planning on putting Hernandez back on the mound May 4 against the New York Yankees. However, have a backup plan ready in case this is too soon for him to return. When Hernandez returns, insert him back into your lineup.

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Chris Kolb
Chris Kolb has been a KFFL contributor since 2006.

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