Prediction: Josh Hamilton will win the HR contest. It’s just too good a story for him not to.
Up Ticks:
Bobby Jenks, RP CHW
He was placed on the 15 day-DL July 9th, retroactive to June 30th with left shoulder/scapular bursitis.
Fantasy Impact: Since this was retroactive 9 days, he is eligible to return the first CHW game after the All Star break. He had a good bullpen session last Saturday and all indications are he will be ready. Activate him for the short week.
Magglio Ordonez, OF DET
He has been on the 15-day DL with a strained oblique but is eligible to return immediately after the All Star break.
Fantasy Impact: He will be on a Class A assignment Monday and the plan is for him to return Thursday at BAL. He has no pain with swinging a bat or throwing and says it feels “good”. He will have a huge series in the humidity of July at Camden Yards.
Josh Johnson, SP FLA
He returned to the mound last Thursday vs. LAD less than a year after Tommy John Surgery. He went 5 innings, yielding 3 runs on 6 hits. The impressive stats are 6 K’s with 0 BB’s.
Fantasy Impact: History has shown that to date, it takes 2 years to be an effective pitcher after Tommy John Surgery. However, its command and feel for pitches that is usually the issue. Johnson had great command in his first start back and left with the lead. If you need K’s and W’s, and can live with a bump in ERA and WHIP; he may be a good sleeper in the second half.
BJ Ryan returned to be effective in about a year post TJ surgery; indications after Johnson’s first start is that he may as well.
Down Ticks:
Takashi Saito, RP LAD
He left Saturday night’s game vs. FLA in the middle of the 9th with tightness in his right elbow.
Fantasy Impact: MRI today, stay tuned. (You may want to consider at least glancing over the waiver wire.)
Roy Oswalt, SP HOU
He left Friday night’s game after 1 scoreless inning after re-aggravating his left hip strain. The Astro’s have indicated he will not pitch in Fantasy Week 16.
Fantasy Impact: Look for the Astro’s to DL him. This is more involved than a minor hip abductor strain as the pain is being caused by an “inflamed sciatic nerve”. Nerves issues typically take longer to resolve than muscle strains. This has the potential to shut him down for a while.
Vernon Wells, OF, TOR
He was placed on the 15-day DL last Thursday with a strained left hamstring. He is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.
Fantasy Impact: The good news is that he did not immediately come out of the game when he initially injured it. He actually scored and then did not return for the defensive half of the inning. Look for this to be more like 4 rather than 6 weeks.
Yunel Escobar, SS ATL
He is scheduled to have an MRI on his ailing left shoulder.
Fantasy Impact: He had a cortisone shot recently and it had minimal to no affects on his condition; now an MRI. A non-affective shot + MRI = DL. My gut says that this has the potential to be season ending as well.
Pedro Martinez, SP NYM
He left his start vs COL after 4 innings last Saturday with tightness in his right pitching shoulder.
Fantasy Impact: A DL stint is likely; Pedro is falling apart orthopedically and continues to show less and less fantasy value as the season goes on.
Chris is a Certified Hand Therapist and avid fantasy sports participant. He consults and treats athletes from high school to the professional ranks sin the Baltimore/DC area for Maryland SportsCare & Rehab and Professional SportsCare & Rehab.
