Oh yes! It is start of the season injury time! It looks like another brutal start like last year with a bunch of expensive players going down. Here is the recap.
Diamondback's Conor Jackson Pulled in the 5th Inning.
Jackson was pulled from last night's game in the 5th inning with the bases loaded for an undisclosed illness. He was taken to the hospital with shortness of breath. He may have pneumonia. How long he's going to miss I don't know. He has antibiotics.
Mets Place RHP Pedro Martinez on the 15-day DL with a left hamstring strain.
Martinez felt something pop in the fourth inning. The MRI showed a mild left hamstring strain which is better than anything that goes pop. The diagnosis is four-to-six weeks which means the start to middle of May. Former Brewer Claudio Vargus might join the Mets as further depth in Triple-A with Orlando Hernandez and Mike Pelfrey getting the first shot.
Phillies Designated INF Wes Helms for assignment.
The Phillies signed Helms after he hit .329 with 10 home runs in 240 at-bats in 2006. He was given the third base job last year and didn't do as well. Now with Pedro Feliz, the Phillies don't need Helms especially what the Phillies were paying him. The Dodgers might be interested.
Mariners Place RHP J.J. Putz on the 15-day DL with inflamed rib cartilage.
The injury is best described as an inflammation of cartilage that attaches to his rib cage. Exactly how long it will take to get over this is unknown. This is one of those injuries that is tough to classify, so as it is classified as mild it may only be 15 games. In the mean time, the Mariners will use a closer by committee.
Rays Exercised the 2009 option on OF Carl Crawford's contract.
Crawford will play for the Rays in 2009 for $8.25 million. He has expressed a willingness to stay with the Rays. Obviously, if the Rays can sign their franchise player to a "hometown" discount, the future will be even brighter in Tampa Bay.
Dodgers Purchase the contracts of INF Blake DeWitt.
DeWitt is hitting .556 in nine at-bats with three walks and a stolen base. He is likely to return to the minors once Tony Abreu comes off the DL, but if he continues to hit and show good on-base skills, the Dodgers may choose to do otherwise.
White Sox Place OF Jerry Owens on the 15-day DL, Retroactive to March 24, with a torn right hip muscle.
Owens is likely to start as the center fielder once he is healthy despite all the talk of Alexei Ramirez. Owens has game changing speed and Ramirez is very raw. Owens says that he'll be ready by Tuesday, but it may be realistic to let him slide a week and figure out what Ozzie Guillen is going to do.
National Chad Cordero has a Strained Shoulder.
Cordero has missed the first week with a strained shoulder. That is bad. The fact that he hasn't gotten his fastball into the low-90's prior to the injury. That is worse. Cordero has been a pretty safe bet the past couple of years, so many owners have paid around $10 to $15 for his services. Not as bad as loosing Putz, however.
Mets Place C Ramon Castro on the 15-day DL.
Castro is useful catcher in deep NL-only leagues as he is good for nearly double-digit home runs despite receiving only 200 at-bats in a good season. This move was made retroactive to March 21st, so he might only miss a week or two of the regular season.
Giants Purchase the Contract of Brian Bocock.
Someone has to play shortstop while Omar Vizquel is on the DL and that person is Brian Bocock. Bocock is a 23-year old that hasn't played beyond High-A. He might give you a steal or two but will do so much damage in other categories that you're better off with the open spot.
Braves Place SP John Smoltz on the 15-day DL.
This is more move to open a spot on the active roster. Smoltz wasn't going to pitch until April 6th, so by putting him on the DL, you could add an additional reliever to the bullpen. It is one of those moves that makes a fantasy player sick thinking the worst. It seems that allowed the Braves to keep Corky Miller on their roster.
Marlins Place OF Jeremy Hermida on the 15-day DL.
Hermida pulled a hamstring but is likely to be activated on Saturday or Sunday.
Tout Wars (Trying to be Tricky)
Last week I announced my Tout Wars lineup for the Mixed League and I alluded to part of my strategy for the auction. I picked up Joel Zumaya in the reserve draft with the intent of placing him on the DL and stashing him away for the end of the season. That wasn't the whole story. I've seen a little trend in Tout that I wanted to take advantage of.
After the auction and the reserve draft, there is one pre-season FAAB period. In the Mixed League, there have been few moves except for last minute closers and other speciality players. The Mixed League starts out shallow, but as players are put on the DL it becomes more and more difficult to find someone in the free agent pool. I wanted to take advantage of that and purposely pick a speciality player who was on the DL and fill a roster spot with him. As there was little bidding, I was hoping to spend the minimum of $0 dollars. There was an unexpected catch, however.
If you remember, Joel Zumaya hurt himself in the off-season. Specifically, he hurt himself packing boxes during the San Diego fire. It turns out that he wasn't formally on the DL. Yes, he wasn't even throwing in Spring Training, wasn't going to pitch until July, but it didn't matter. The paperwork wasn't filed.
I sat their waiting and hoping that the Tigers would submit the paperwork prior to the Friday, 5:00 p.m. FAAB deadline. They didn't, so my chance at a pool of quality $0 players was lost. Jerry Owens also went on the DL and the same thing happened to him.
So, I didn't receive any FAAB players until this week went everyone who had an injury is going to be making a claim. I will have to spend some FAAB money, oh well. It looked good on paper.
JP Kastner is the winner of the 2007 Strat-O-Matic Baseball Online Expert League World Series. In five seasons of SOMBOE, JP Kastner has five winning seasons, four playoff appearances, three World Series appearances and now one World Championship. He is in his second season in the Tout Wars mixed league.