Fantasy Baseball Injury Report

After two weeks of relentless carnage to big-name players, the third week of the season wasn't all that bad. Most of the injuries suffered by players were minor, but there were some very odd injuries to aces such as Cliff Lee. Le'ts get down to business:

Hitters

Adrian Beltre pulled his hammy this weekend and is hoping to miss just four games. This is the same injury that cost him one month last year and it’s not out of the question to think that Beltre could hit the DL. Beltre stretched out that hamstring more than any player I’ve ever seen in the Spring Training games (I saw him warm up twice in March for Cactus League). When Beltre comes back, it’s probably safe to assume he won’t be stretching any doubles and will be stuck on his one steal. He only stole one base last year, too. He’ll have an MRI today that all signs point to it being negative. Stay tuned.

Check out the rest of the injuries of note after the jump:

Allen Craig had knee surgery in the offseason to repair an injury he suffered during the regular season. He had screws placed in his knee cap and it appears that his rehabilitation is going well enough for him to make his return in the near future. Craig blasted a homer in his first at-bat of rehab and should be back with the Cardinals in a week or so. He’s a nice player to stash for any owner that needs an OF.

Chris Young suffered a slight tear in his right (throwing) shoulder as well as a deep bruise and was placed on the disabled list on Wednesday. Oddly enough, Arizona is expecting him to return in the minimum 15 days, but even the most optimistic owner probably shouldn’t be counting on it. Gerardo Parra will pick up the slack in the meantime and has been batting leadoff for the Diamondbacks.

The Yankees placed Brett Gardner on the 15-day DL with a strained right elbow. The details of the injury include a bone bruise and a strained extensor muscle (muscle on the posterior side of the forearm), neither figure to be much of a problem for him. His owners shouldn’t be worried much and expecting him to return in the minimum 15 days is appropriate.

Starters

Cliff Lee had arguably the second-most impressive outing of the season on Wednesday with his 10-inning gem that included seven strikeouts, seven hits, no runs and no walks with 81 of his 102 pitches going for strikes. However, Lee was placed on the DL this weekend with an oblique strain. Baseball has seen an spike in oblique strains in the past and Lee has fallen victim to this ailment before. What’s more, he suffered from abdominal soreness in Spring Training, but it’s not in the same area of his abs. Lee has been remarkably durable since his Cy Young year by avoiding the DL in each season. Owners of Lee could probably expect him back at some point in May. Although it’s likely to be closer to Memorial Day than Cinco De Mayo, so plan your party accordingly.

Daniel Hudson was also a fairly surprising player to hit the disabled list with his shoulder problem. As just about every baseball fan knows, shoulder injuries are much more troublesome that an elbow and Hudson could be down for quite some time. On the other hand, this could just be a precautionary measure as some form of damage control. The main positive with this story is that his MRI was negative for structural damage, so the smart money is on him not missing most of the season with this problem. Owners of Hudson should stash him on the DL under almost any circumstance.

The subsequent question of course is who is going to take his spot in the rotation? Well, Wade Miley is going to get the first crack at it. Miley is unlikely to fend off the two Baby Backs Trevor Bauer and Tyler Skaggs. Bauer is one of the best pitching prospects in baseball and is almost a lock to make it up to the bigs by the All-Star break. The UCLA stud is tearing it up this year with sterling 0.40 ERA and 28 K’s in 22.2 IP. Bauer has already been snatched up in any competitive deep league and he could be up very soon once Miley falters. Skaggs isn’t too shabby either and should see some action with the big club. Skaggs was the starter in the Futures Game last year and currently has 27 punchouts with a 3.63 ERA over 17.1 IP in Double-A. It's also worth mentioning that Josh Collmenter doesn't seem like he's cut out for a rotation spot with his straight 88-MPG heater.

Michael Pineda had a setback with his throwing shoulder injury. He is expected to meet with Dr. Chris Ahmad on Monday to undergo an MRI. He’s probably going to be out for at least another two months and there are about two dozen other players that are better DL-stash candidates. It’s certainly in the realm of possibilities that Pineda doesn’t pitch in 2012 (insert dark, omnious tones here).

Closers

Sergio Santos is off to see Dr. Lewis Yocum to get his pitching shoulder checked out which will require a stint on the DL. This injury does sound more severe than Hudson’s because of Yocum’s name attached to it and how Santos was in pain after he threw on Friday. Santos owners should be on the lookout for the news and prepare for the worst. By the way, once again we learned that paying for saves is not a good idea.

The news came on Saturday night which allowed the fantasy owls to go ahead and snatch Francisco Cordero in any league. The Blue Jays confirmed that Coco will get the saves chances and he should be grabbed in any league where you care about saves.

Thanks for reading!