Fantasy Baseball and MLB News, Rumors and Injury Updates

Fantasy Baseball: Injury Roundup

September 19, 2008 @ 10:37:32

By Alan Knopf, M.D. and Bryce McRae
Edited by Tim Heaney and Herija C. Green

The Fantasy Sports Doc - Expert Analysis - Dr. Alan Knopf's Take

Dr. Alan Knopf has been a clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and Joint Implant Service at the University of Southern California School of Medicine in Los Angeles. He is an attending staff member of the school's County General Hospital - Keck School of Medicine. He specializes in knee, shoulder, ankle, hip and trauma surgery. Dr. Knopf is board certified by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and the American Board of Arthroscopic Surgery.

For more information regarding Dr. Knopf's work, please click here.

Jeremy Guthrie | Starting Pitcher | Baltimore Orioles | Right shoulder impingement | Status: Placed on 15-day DL; could miss rest of 2008 season

Shoulder Impingement Syndrome

Shoulder impingement syndrome occurs when the tendons of the rotator cuff are compressed between a part of the shoulder blade and the head of the humerus. This can become a chronic condition, possibly causing a weakening or a tear of the tendons of the rotator cuff.

This is an overuse syndrome in the shoulder. This is a reason to keep a pitch count. The older you become the more likely you will develop a rotator cuff impingement syndrome (with repetitive shoulder motion strain or direct trauma, such as falling on the shoulder).

Treatment

Most patients can obtain relief with a simple series of stretching exercises, a period of rest or treatments involving and ice or heat. Ice helps to cool down the inflammation; heat helps to warm up the muscles around the shoulder and ease of some of the muscular tension.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) will give insight as to whether the soft tissue injury to the muscles, tendons or bursa sac; it will also determine the degree of inflammation or degeneration, along with possible tears of the rotator cuff. The results of the MRI will indicate the degree of the problem and the need for arthroscopic surgery.

If these problems persist, subacromial decompression surgery would expand the space for the tendons of the rotator cuff to move freely. This involves acromioplasty, in which surgeons remove bone spurs that the tendon rubs on so the tendon can glide normally. This involves the removal of the bursa, the lubricating sac between the rotator cuff and the underside of the acromion that is inflamed by the impingement process.

Applied to baseball

A steroid injection into the bursa sac is another form of conservative treatment, but a hurler should not receive more than three injections in one baseball season. More frequent injections can cause rotator cuff tears.

Conservative treatment usually takes four to six weeks before returning to pitching activity.

Arthroscopic surgery recovery may take three to six months. For a big-league pitcher, I would follow the extent of healing with repeat MRIs to prevent the "dead arm syndrome" from developing in the throwing shoulder.

Catchers

Player	Team	Injury	Status/Projected Return	Fantasy Replacement	Fantasy Tip
Jesus Flores	WAS	ankle	Out for the season	Wil Nieves	Discard in all single-year
Yadier Molina	STL	thigh	Sept. 19-21	Jason LaRue	Stash in deep mixed

First Basemen

Player	Team	Injury	Status/Projected Return	Fantasy Replacement	Fantasy Tip
Paul Konerko	CHW	knee	Returned Tuesday, Sept. 16	N/A	Add in deep mixed
Todd Helton	COL	back	Pinch-hitting rest of the way	Ian Stewart	Discard in all

Second Basemen

Player	Team	Injury	Status/Projected Return	Fantasy Replacement	Fantasy Tip
Howie Kendrick	LAA	hamstring	Next week	Brandon Wood	Stash in deep mixed
Kazuo Matsui	HOU	back	Returned Tuesday, Sept. 16	N/A	Add in deep mixed
Jeff Kent	LAD	knee	No timetable	Blake DeWitt	Retain in NL-only

Third Basemen

Player	Team	Injury	Status/Projected Return	Fantasy Replacement	Fantasy Tip
Evan Longoria	TB	wrist	Returned Saturday, Sept. 13	N/A	Return to lineups
Chone Figgins	LAA	elbow	Sept. 20-21	Robb Quinlan	Hold in all
Mike Lowell	BOS	hip	Day-to-day	Sean Casey	Retain in all
Melvin Mora	BAL	hamstring	Next week	Kevin Millar	Keep in deep mixed
Adrian Beltre	SEA	thumb	Finished for the year	Matt Tuiasosopo	Discard in single-year
Carlos Guillen	DET	back	No timetable	Dusty Ryan	Stash in deep mixed
Troy Glaus	STL	shoulder	Returned Tuesday, Sept. 16	N/A	Activate in deep mixed
Edwin Encarnacion	CIN	wrist	Day-to-day	Adam Rosales	Retain in deep mixed
Alex Gordon	KC	quadriceps	Activated Saturday, Sept. 13	N/A	Add in deep mixed
Ty Wigginton	HOU	groin	Returned Wednesday, Sept. 17	N/A	Deep mixed acquisition
Joe Crede	CHW	back	No timetable	Juan Uribe	Stash option in AL-only
Brian Buscher	MIN	thumb	Day-to-day	Matt Tolbert	Retain in deep mixed

Shortstops

Player	Team	Injury	Status/Projected Return	Fantasy Replacement	Fantasy Tip
Hanley Ramirez	FLA	shoulder	Sept. 19-21	Cameron Maybin	Retain in all
Michael Young	TEX	finger	Day-to-day	N/A	Keep in all
Yunel Escobar	ATL	hamstring	Questionable Sept. 19-21	Omar Infante	Deep mixed option
Rafael Furcal	LAD	back	Late September	Angel Berroa	Stash in NL-only
Edgar Renteria	DET	chest	Returned Wednesday, Sept. 17	N/A	Pick up if available
Erick Aybar	LAA	hamstring	Returned Tuesday, Sept. 16	N/A	AL-only option
Julio Lugo	BOS	quadriceps	No timetable	Jed Lowrie	Discard in all

Outfielders

Player	Team	Injury	Status/Projected Return	Fantasy Replacement	Fantasy Tip
Carlos Lee	HOU	finger	Likely done for the year	Darin Erstad	Drop in single-year
Vladimir Guerrero	LAA	knee	Friday, Sept. 19	N/A	Stash in all
Carl Crawford	TB	finger	Late September/early October	Rocco Baldelli	Discard in all non-keeper
Milton Bradley	TEX	back	Day-to-day	Brandon Boggs	Retain in all
Carlos Quentin	CHW	wrist	October	Dewayne Wise	No longer an option
B.J. Upton	TB	quadriceps	Day-to-day	N/A	Hold in all
Torii Hunter	LAA	cheek	Returned Thursday, Sept. 18	N/A	Leave active in all
Rick Ankiel	STL	abdominal	Done for the season	Aaron Miles	Discard in single-year
Conor Jackson	ARI	shoulder	Returned Wednesday, Sept. 17	N/A	Acquire in deep mixed
J.D. Drew	BOS	back	Friday, Sept. 19	Coco Crisp	Take a chance in deep mixed
Michael Cuddyer	MIN	foot	Activated Saturday, Sept. 13	N/A	Flier in deep mixed
Chris B. Young	ARI	wrist	Bothered by sore wrist	N/A	Keep him active
David Murphy	TEX	knee	Likely done for the year	Nelson Cruz	Discard in all single-year
Jody Gerut	SD	finger	Unlikely to hit again	Will Venable	Release in all
Fernando Tatis	NYM	shoulder	Done for the year	Daniel Murphy	Dump in all
Juan Rivera	LAA	hip	Day-to-day	N/A	Stash in AL-only
Chris Dickerson	CIN	Achilles'	Day-to-day	N/A	Hold in NL-only

Designated Hitters

Player	Team	Injury	Status/Projected Return	Fantasy Replacement	Fantasy Tip
Hideki Matsui	NYY	knee	Unlikely to play past Sunday, Sept. 21	Brett Gardner	AL-only option

Starting Pitchers

Player	Team	Injury	Status/Projected Return	Fantasy Replacement	Fantasy Tip
Carlos Zambrano	CHC	shoulder	Returned Sunday, Sept. 14	N/A	Return to lineups
Ben Sheets	MIL	elbow	Day-to-day	N/A	Stash in all
Justin Duchscherer	OAK	hip	Could be out for the year	Dana Eveland	Retain solely in AL-only
John Maine	NYM	shoulder	Monday, Sept. 22, as a reliever	Jonathon Niese	Discard in single-year
Shaun Marcum	TOR	forearm	Done for the year	David Purcey	Drop in single-year
Erik Bedard	SEA	shoulder	Will not return in 2008	N/A	Dump in non-keeper
Jeff Francis	COL	undisclosed	Shut down for the season	Livan Hernandez	Discard in all
Jeremy Guthrie	BAL	arm	Late September	Chris Waters	Retain in AL-only
Randy Johnson	ARI	shoulder	Returned Thursday, Sept. 18	N/A	Acquire in deep mixed
Wandy Rodriguez	HOU	oblique	No timetable	Alberto Arias	Stash in NL-only
Daniel Cabrera	BAL	elbow	Done for the season	Radhames Liz	Dump in all
Yovani Gallardo	MIL	knee	Next week, as a reliever	N/A	NL-only option
Bartolo Colon	BOS	oblique	Returned Saturday, Sept. 13	N/A	Flier in AL-only
Brandon McCarthy	TEX	hand	Out for the year	Dustin Nippert	Release in non-keeper

Relief Pitchers

Player	Team	Injury	Status/Projected Return	Fantasy Replacement	Fantasy Tip
Troy Percival	TB	back	Bothered by sore back	Dan Wheeler	Return to lineups
George Sherrill	BAL	shoulder	Returned Sunday, Sept. 14	N/A	Deep mixed option
Takashi Saito	LAD	elbow	Activated Sunday, Sept. 14	N/A	Possible flier
Scott Downs	TOR	ankle	Could be done for the year	N/A	Stash in AL-only
Chris Carpenter	STL	shoulder	Done for the season	Chris Perez	Ditch in non-keeper

Author Bio

Alan Knopf, M.D.
Dr. Alan Knopf has been a clinical professor of orthopedic reconstructive surgery and joint implant service at the University of Southern California School of Medicine in Los Angeles. He worked for 30 years at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Group in Los Angeles, where he specialized in knee, shoulder, ankle, hip and trauma surgery. Dr. Knopf is certified in arthroscopic surgery.

Author Bio

Bryce McRae
Bryce McRae is a Managing Editor with KFFL and has been involved in fantasy sports since 1999. He joined KFFL as a volunteer writer in March 2005 before becoming a Hot off the Wire Analyst in March 2006. He began working in his current capacity in September 2008. His work has appeared on fantasy sports sites such as Yahoo! and CBS Sportsline as well as in print. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2008 with a B.A. in History and U.S. Studies.