Every team deals with injuries here and there, it's a fact of fantasy baseball. Just when you think you're safe, that's when the injury bug will bite.
It's bad enough to already have lost Troy Tulowitzki (rated #1 shortstop at the time of the injury), but I got some terrible news this weekend when the Cleveland Indians put Shin-Soo Choo on the DL Saturday (thats right Choo...you keep your head down...me and all your other owners are very disappointed in you...very disappointed). I'm not one to speculate on injuries, or even offer my opinion on them, because I'm not a doctor. However, I saw the play that Choo got injured on, and in no way, shape, or form did this look like a serious injury, or even an injury at all. Choo dove for a ball that was just out of his reach, and without landing on his glove hand funny or anything, quickly got up, grabbed the loose ball and threw it in. Not even a wince of pain on his face, nothing like that. After the game, I figured maybe he bruised it or it was sore, so he got Saturday off but was scheduled for an MRI. This is a precautionary step, and even Manny Acta thought there was no significant injury. Then...WITHOUT WARNING...the Indians threw Choo on the DL with a "sprained right thumb."
Injuries happen to everyone in fantasy baseball, it's a fact of life. You are not judged on how bad your luck is when it comes to injuries, rather you are judged on how you recover from them.
There is no set method to dealing with major injuries. If you were to lose Albert Pujols tomorrow for two months, there is no way you would be able to match his production over that time span, and you would inevitibly be losing value at that roster position. Your goal should be to excercise your skill in "damage control" whenever injuries strike, who knows, sometimes you can even get lucky.
For example, when trying to decide which players to pick up to fill the roster spot (assuming you don't have someone stashed already on the bench), I like to look toward the guys with big upsides, that other owners aren't yet willing to bet on. I also like guys that are having down years, however there is no real explaination as to why it's happening (possibly suggesting it's just bad luck).
I drafted Asdrubal Cabrera as my middle infielder, so when he went down with a broken arm earlier in the year, I wasn't too upset. It was an easy replacement, and I snagged Aaron Hill off the waiver wire. The next two injuries to my team weren't so easy to deal with.
When I lost Tulowizki, I instantly looked at the available free agent shortstops I could pick up to fill in for the next two months ot Tulo-less ball. I was shocked at how few my options were. The best options available at the time were Cliff Pennington, Omar Infante (SS eligibility), and Ian Desmond. While in some deeper leagues all of these players would already be owned, these guys are borderline 12-team players. I ended up switching between the three trying to find the hot hand (with some success) but struck gold when a trio of other owners bailed on their highly drafted shortstops. Alexei Ramirez, Yunel Escobar and Alcides Escobar were all dropped by their fed-up owners, and I grabbed Alexei Ramirez because I felt that he was in the best position to give me value. I'm happy to report that he hit a homerun for me yesterday and another one today.
Shin-Soo Choo, in my opinion, is one of the most overlooked and underrated fantasy (and real life) baseball players you can find. He's a legitimate (when healthy) 25-25 guy, with potential for even more production. If he was healthy, he would have easily been the Indians All-Star, as he is a million times more valuable to any team than Fausto Carmona is. When he went down with his injury a couple days ago, I instantly felt a terrible sickening feeling deep in my stomach. This is going to be harder to rebound from than Tulowizki was. I ended up settling with Jonny Gomes as a replacement (dropped by an impatient owner) and he hit a homerun for me yesterday. However, where I'm really hurting is steals.
Since losing Tulowizki, trading BJ Upton, losing Coo, and combine all that with Rajai Davis's severe drop in playing time, it's safe to say I'm hurting in the SB department. I'm currently second in my league in steals (with 101, a 4 steal lead over 3rd, and a 10 steal deficit from 1st), but can see myself dropping in that category.
I'm just thankful I don't have Chase Utley, or Kendry Morales, or Jason Heyward, or Placido Polanco, or Dustin Pedroia, or Victor Martinez, or Manny Ramirez, or Josh Beckett, or Jacoby Ellsbury, or Grady Sizemore, or Brian Roberts. There has been a crazy amount of injuries this year, so nearly everyone has been effected.
