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Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury injured his shoulder sliding into second base yesterday and could miss from 6-8 weeks which could take him till the end of June. Our own Mike Gallagher tweeted the following after the official diagnosis was announced:
A partial dislocation of the shoulder (aka subluxation) is usually a 2-month injury. Big blow to Ellsbury owners.
And ESPN's Stephania Bell tweeted a worst case scenario for Ellsbury and his owners:
More Ellsbury: If dislocated, could range from few months to season-threatening (think Freddy Sanchez last year)...many variables in play.
Bell also tweeted that the injury was to Ellsbury's non-throwing, right shoulder, but then tweeted the following:
Yes, which has potential to create other set of challenges if any instability in lead shldr RT
@caseypaulkATC:@Stephania_ESPN hit left too?
The Red Sox are expected to call up Che-Hsuan Lin to replace Ellsbury on the 25 man roster. A quick glance at his Baseball Reference page tells me he is nothing more than a 4th-5th outfielder. With Carl Crawford out until sometime in May, the Red Sox outfield is looking pretty thin.
More Roto Roundup after the jump:
Twitter was all atwitter (?) last night after Evan Grant, and others, tweeted that Alexi Ogando was in for the save for the Rangers in a 4-1 game. Later our own Robert Bishop tweeted that manager Ron Washington said that closer Joe Nathan was not available since he had pitched two days in a row. With that said, Robert still thinks Ogando will be closing soon enough. Man, I wish I talked to Robert before I traded my $5 Ogando in my AL-Only keeper league.
Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda had butterflies before the game, but it didn't appear to affect him as he went out and shut out Albert Pujols and the Angels for 8 innings, giving up 5 hits, 2 walks and striking out 6. As I mentioned on twitter last night, Dodgers fans will miss Kuroda. Yankee fans will appreciate his competitiveness on the mound.
Tigers starter Max Scherzer had a better game than the stats indicate yesterday. He gave up 3 runs on 5 hits and a walk, but struck out 11 and induced 14 swinging strikes amongst his 65 strikes thrown. He's had a rough start to the 2012 season with his ERA over 10.00, but he owns a 14-3 strikeout to walk rate, so I am sure his FIP is much lower.
Giants starter Matt Cain dominated the Pirates yesterday afternoon, as he tossed a complete game one-hit shutout, where the only hit he gave up was to his counterpart, James McDonald. Cain was dealing as he induced 19 swinging strikes of his 73 strikes thrown. He is now 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA, which is much better than Tim Lincecum at this point.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy seems dead set on allowing Brandon Belt to hit his way out of any slump he gets into, as he sat him for the 4th game in a row. I guess Aubrey Huff and his .278-.435-.556 triple slash line is too good to sit. Maybe so, but Bochy isn't doing Belt any favors sitting him.
Royals outfielder Lorenzo Cain was placed on the DL on Thursday and the team called up AAA outfielder Jarrod Dyson, who is an add in really deep leagues only. The addition of Dyson moved Alex Gordon down to the 5th spot in the Royals lineuo.
Speaking of the Royals, first baseman Eric Hosmer is struggling to open the 2012 season, as he is hitting just .207-.281-.414 with 2 HRs and 5 RBI in just under 30 at bats thus far. He will be fine. He had an outstanding spring, so no reason to panic.
The way the Nationals are playing so many close games, both Henry Rodriguez and Brad Lidge could earn double digit saves before Drew Storen returns from the DL before the All Star break.
Orioles outfielder Nolan Reimold was on plenty of breakout rankings before the season started and he is doing his best to make fantasy writers look good. He went 3-5 with a HR, 3 runs, RBI and a SB in the O's 7-5 over Brandon Morrow and the Blue Jays. He is hitting .308-.308-.500 with a HR, 2 RBI and a SB in 26 at bats.
Astros outfielder Jordan Shafer went 0-4 with 2 walks and 2 stolen bases last night and now has 5 stolen bases thus far this season. He is a very valuable 5th outfielder if he is still available in NL only or mixed leagues. He could steal 30+ if he can stay in the lineup.
Shafer's teammate J.D. Martinez had a nice night at the plate, going 2-4 with a HR, 2 runs and 2 RBI. For the season, he is hitting .385-.429-.769 with 3 HRs and 8 RBI thus far. I think he can put up a 20 HR-85 RBI-.275 BA season for fantasy owners.
Dodgers starter Aaron Harang struck out 9 straight batters after Cameron Maybin lead off the game with a single and a stolen base. He had a chance to tie Tom Seaver's record of 10 straight Ks, but Chase Headley homered to open the 4th inning. Harang left the game in the 7th with 13 strikeouts.
Before the season started, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke stated that the team would be more aggressive on the basepaths this season. Well, last night they were very aggressive. Down by 5 runs, Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez execute a double steal and eventually come around to score to cut the score to 8-5. What's even more interesting is the fact that Mat Gamel has the same number of SBs (2) as Braun and ARam. The Brewers will be running this season, it appears.