This article is part of our Fantasy Baseball Injury Report series.
Detailing injuries entering spring training can be difficult. If you listen to the players, everyone is feeling 100 percent and right on track. Recovering pitchers always seem to be ahead of schedule, while others convey a sense of invincibility. However, things quickly change as the spring progresses and actual baseball begins. Let's start the year by examining the players I initially profiled and see where they stand with Opening Day less than two weeks away.
Aaron Judge
Judge underwent a shoulder debridement surgery during the offseason to remove loose bodies and clean up damaged cartilage within the joint. Judge targeted Opening Day from the get-go, and the Yankees wisely eased him into the fold. He recently reported that there has been no lingering soreness in the area. Still, New York will carefully manage his workload, especially in the field, to insure he remains healthy for the long-term. Look for him to see reps as the Yankees' designated hitter to start the season. Draft Judge with confidence.
Miguel Sano
The Twins third baseman was left off the team's postseason roster after a stress reaction in his left shin failed to adequately heal. Sano addressed the issue by proactively undergoing surgery to fix the injury site. A rod was inserted into the tibia to stabilize the fracture and promote healing. Sano was cleared to return to spring games and was an active participant in a win over the Rays. Unfortunately, a new injury has surfaced with Sano missing time with a bruised
Detailing injuries entering spring training can be difficult. If you listen to the players, everyone is feeling 100 percent and right on track. Recovering pitchers always seem to be ahead of schedule, while others convey a sense of invincibility. However, things quickly change as the spring progresses and actual baseball begins. Let's start the year by examining the players I initially profiled and see where they stand with Opening Day less than two weeks away.
Aaron Judge
Judge underwent a shoulder debridement surgery during the offseason to remove loose bodies and clean up damaged cartilage within the joint. Judge targeted Opening Day from the get-go, and the Yankees wisely eased him into the fold. He recently reported that there has been no lingering soreness in the area. Still, New York will carefully manage his workload, especially in the field, to insure he remains healthy for the long-term. Look for him to see reps as the Yankees' designated hitter to start the season. Draft Judge with confidence.
Miguel Sano
The Twins third baseman was left off the team's postseason roster after a stress reaction in his left shin failed to adequately heal. Sano addressed the issue by proactively undergoing surgery to fix the injury site. A rod was inserted into the tibia to stabilize the fracture and promote healing. Sano was cleared to return to spring games and was an active participant in a win over the Rays. Unfortunately, a new injury has surfaced with Sano missing time with a bruised right knee. The Twins seem to be handling him cautiously, though the two injuries appear unrelated. I would still tread cautiously with Sano, but his upside could make him worth adding at a discounted price.
Yoenis Cespedes
The 32-year-old Mets outfielder entered the spring with concerns about his historically problematic lower extremities. Throughout his time in the league, Cespedes has battled multiple strains in his hamstring and quadriceps, including several DL-stints.
While his legs have held up, Cespedes has spent the spring nursing upper extremity issues. It started with shoulder soreness in his throwing arm and progressed to soreness in the wrist on the same arm. The wrist injury was significant enough to warrant a cortisone injection. Cortisone is an anti-inflammatory but is by no means a cure. Fantasy owners should be more concerned about what caused the inflammation than the treatment itself, though Cespedes and the Mets have downplayed the issue.
The injuries are a stark reminder of the risk associated with an outfielder who has missed an average of 56 games over the past two seasons. Look elsewhere until you're ready to take a gamble.
Michael Fulmer
The Tigers right-hander underwent ulnar nerve transposition surgery in September to address a nerve injury that left him with numbness and weakness in hands and fingers.
In the procedure, the surgeon relocated Fulmer's nerve from its normal position so that it is no longer would become pinched at the elbow. He spent the offseason recuperating and prepping for the start of the season. While Detroit slowly worked up his workload, Fulmer still developed soreness in the area. A precautionary MRI was performed, and no structural damage was discovered. The Tigers opted to give Fulmer an extended bit of rest before allowing him to return to action March 9. It does appear Fulmer will be available to start the season, though manager Ron Gardenhire named Jordan Zimmerman the team's Opening Day starter.
Don't overreact to Detroit's decision to start Zimmermann over Fulmer. The 25-year-old remains the best starter in the Tigers rotation and has the most fantasy upside. Furthermore, there have been multiple recent cases of pitchers performing well following this procedure, including Jacob deGrom.
Noah Syndergaard
The Mets ace right-hander only pitched 30.1 innings in 2017 due to an assortment of injuries, including a blister, biceps tendinitis and a torn latissimus dorsi muscle.
The latissimus dorsi (lat) runs along the thoracic region of the spine before attaching to the upper arm bone known as the humerus. This unique arrangement allows the lat to play a role in shoulder and back motions. The lat influences extension, adduction and internal rotation of the glenohumeral joint, while also addressing movement at the shoulder blade.
Syndergaard altered his offseason approach, addressing the functional and fluid motions of his mechanics rather than simply improving his strength. The new tactic should help minimize his risk of re-injury, though concerns about the bone spur in his elbow continue to linger. He's looked solid this spring and avoided any sort of setback. He will take the mound for the Mets on Opening Day and could be in line for a bounce-back campaign.
Madison Bumgarner
The veteran Giants left-hander is looking to prove last season's regression was the result of a freak accident and nothing more. He missed nearly three months of the 2017 season after suffering a moderate acromioclavicular (AC) sprain on his throwing arm in a dirt bike wreck. The AC joint is not the ball-and-socket joint of the shoulder but is instead located where the collarbone meets the shoulder blade. The AC joint acts as a strut for the shoulder and allows the arm to be raised overhead. Multiple ligaments fortify the area but are vulnerable to injury, especially with a fall.
Fortunately, Bumgarner has been healthy all spring and was dominate over the weekend, pitching six scoreless innings, which included one hit, two walks, five strikeouts. He added a homer at the plate for good measure. Let someone else be scared off by last year's anomaly and treat "MadBum" as a top-10 MLB pitcher.
Check Swings
Jerad Eickhoff: The Phillies have an opening in their rotation after the young right-hander suffered a mild lat strain. The importance of the lat to a pitcher was previously discussed with Syndergaard and holds true here as well. Philadelphia has placed his current recovery timeline at six to eight weeks, though I'm guessing his return comes on the latter portion of that estimate.
Zack Greinke: A mild groin strain has limited Greinke recently, though he was able to complete a bullpen session on Sunday. The injury isn't overly concerning but should throw off his routine enough to force him from an Opening Day start. However, it doesn't appear his 2018 debut will be delayed much longer than that, and no time on the DL will be necessary.
