Chase Headley Injury Analysis

Monday night we found out Chase Headley will miss all of April due to a thumb injury. Corey Brock reported the following:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Bad news on <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Padres">#Padres</a> 3B Chase Headley. He has a small fracture in left thumb. Could miss a month.</p>&mdash; Corey Brock (@FollowThePadres) <a href="https://twitter.com/FollowThePadres/status/313777785896312832">March 18, 2013</a></blockquote>

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A few things are clear following this news:

• I'd move Headley down quite a bit on my draft boards. He was a big question mark coming into the season as everyone was eager to see if he could repeat his 2012 power output, but this injury removes any optimism I may have had in his ability to reproduce his 2012 numbers. You weren't going to find Headley on any of my 2013 rosters, but this injury might let him slide far enough down drafts where I could consider drafting him. If he falls outside of the Top 120, I might consider taking a look while snagging a guy like Jeff Keppinger late to fill in for the time being. I plan on conducting some mock drafts today and report back with where I see him going now.
• Logan Forsythe should have the full-time gig at 3B. He's a solid defender at the hot corner and should have no trouble holding down the spot until Headley returns. Forsythe will likely bat second, behind Everth Cabrera and in front of Yonder Alonso - not a terrible spot.
• Jedd Gyorko is now firmly entrenched at the keystone. Gyorko earned the spot through his performance this spring, but this injury should allow him more leeway if he struggles early. I'll be excited to see what he can do with this opportunity.