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So I was at work last week when Tom Brady got hurt in practice. When I got to my phone a while later to check Twitter, I saw half the sports world panic, mourn, realize he was okay, and celebrate, all in the span of a couple hours of tweets.
The same thing happened yesterday, but with Mike Trout. He left the Angels-Astros game early, and there were any number of "AAAHH!" tweets posted. Those settled down as it turned out to be a hamstring strain, and at the time I write this-about 11 on Sunday night-we're all talking about Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Dempster, and Breaking Bad, as we've realized that Trout's ouchie seems to be a minor one, and reports are he'll most likely be back on the field Monday.
In other injury news from the last week:
Texas Rangers pitchers
No, that's not a player, and yes, I'm biased as a Texas fan, but holy crap, Rangers pitchers. Stop being hurt!
The team shut Matt Harrison down for the season Wednesday, after he experienced numbness in his left hand during a Triple-A rehab start. GM Jon Daniels said that they expect Harrison back to full strength by spring training, but there's no reason to hold on to Harrison now in anything but super-deep keeper leagues. I didn't report this at the time, but the team has also shut down Colby Lewis for the year, after hip surgery.
Alexi Ogando, after multiple DL stints already this year, will miss his start Monday after an injection to treat a right shoulder inflammation. Matt Garza was moved up to start Monday, and the Rangers' Tuesday starter is so up in the air that Lone Star Ball's Adam Morris tweeted this Sunday night:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The Rangers' starter on Tuesday is TBA. Erik Bedard's last start was on Thursday, meaning he could start Tuesday on regular rest.</p>— Adam J. Morris (@lonestarball) <a href="https://twitter.com/lonestarball/statuses/369272139884417024">August 19, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
When you're considering bringing in Erik Bedard in an emergency waiver trade to make a mid-August start as a serious contender, things have gotten weird. The team's in-house options appear to be down to Ross Wolf or Jake Brigham - either way, basically a bullpen game - so the short answer is "Don't use a Texas starter on Tuesday."
As for Ogando, he's been successful when healthy over most of his career, but whenever they have him in the rotation, he hasn't been able to stay healthy. Eventually, they're going to have to pull the plug on Ogando as a starter. If I'm an Ogando owner in fantasy, that "eventually" is now. I don't think he can really be used as a starter anymore.
On the other side of this injury coin is Neftali Feliz. After being shut down a week ago when he couldn't get loose, the team sent him out on a Triple-A rehab assignment Saturday, with eyes on a September return. He'll be back as a reliever, and with Joe Nathan, Joakim Soria, and the rest of the Rangers' bullpen being good-to-better-than-good, Feliz isn't going to be helpful unless you play in a holds league.
Finally, while he's not a pitcher, he's a Ranger, and Lance Berkman isn't really worthy of his own Injury Report header, so...he's out on a Double-A rehab assignment. Sounds like he'll most likely return when rosters expand in September. I'm not going anywhere near him. Even if he returns healthy, he won't play regularly - not with his hips - and he was only marginally productive as is earlier this year. Stay away.
Carlos Gomez, MIL
Gomez looked possibly DL-bound after spraining his knee making a catch Thursday. Reports have lightened in the days since, and he has "returned to baseball activities" as of Sunday, according to reports. He's unlikely to play much this week - the MLB.com reporter says he isn't likely to see the field until Friday - but it now looks like the DL isn't in the offing. If you drafted Gomez this year, though, you've already gotten far more than full value back. Anything you get from him going forward is gravy.
David Wright, NYM
The Mets have started hinting that Wright might not make it back this year, after suffering a hamstring injury August 2. It's not like there's much reason for them to rush him, considering they're terrible, so I'm also considering anything I get from Wright the rest of the way to be gravy. Make sure you have a long-term replacement - Wilmer Flores, perhaps. He's owned in only 3% of Yahoo leagues, he's performed (in a tremendously small sample) well since his callup, and he'll have the majority of the Mets' third base job until Wright's return, if that ever happens.
Desmond Jennings, TBR
Jennings is already set for a return from his fractured left middle finger. Jennings has had a reasonable year, hitting .258/.326/.419 with 11 home runs and 17 stolen bases. Considering the positive reports as he's worked back, I would have no concerns putting him back in my lineup Monday for his returb.
Dan Uggla, ATL
Bet he got LASIK because his batting average was so low! Hahahahahahahahaha. Sorry, I wanted to play along with everyone on Twitter. Uggla hit the DL last week to get eye surgery, after an astigmatism impaired his vision, apparently all year long. Early reports are that his recovery is going fine, and based on what I know from my brother having the surgery (which means I'm an expert! or at least an expert-by-proxy!), 15 days is a reasonable amount of time. I'd expect Uggla back by the end of the month, give or take.
Bartolo Colon, OAK
Colon hit the DL Saturday, retroactive to Wednesday, with a left groin strain, which is completely understandable considering he could double as Barney the Dinosaur in the offseason. I don't know how he doesn't pull muscles more often, frankly. If you're going to pull something, a groin isn't the worst way to go, and it sounds like Colon will miss close to the minimum. In the meantime, the A's will need to figure out something for the rotation, and it sounds like Brett Anderson - who was initially working back to be a reliever - is rehabbing to rejoin the rotation again. Anderson's problem has never been his talent, so if he can get healthy, he's worth a look. It's always a big "if," though.
Roy Halladay, PHI
Halladay is working his way back from his shoulder woes early in the year, and is on a rehab assignment now. Considering the Phillies are out of contention, there isn't any real baseball reason for him coming back, but Halladay seems like the type to want to prove to everyone he's still himself. I'd want to see at least one good start (and probably two or three) in the bigs before I trusted him in my fantasy lineup, but you never want to see injury cut someone short. Feel better, Roy.
Follow me on Twitter @danieltkelley
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