Where have all the groin pulls gone? In my day, you pulled a hammy or a groin, and you liked it! Now, these kids are all about obliques. What in tarnation is an oblique? Where is it? Is it even in your body? Do you acquire it in some seedy alley in Tijuana? Hurt your femur, dang’nabbit! So Trevor Hoffman is laid up for a few with a strained oblique. He’ll probably miss the first week of the season and, as with old people, they don’t bounce back like they used to, even with tennis balls on their walker. So Trevor Hoffman might be out for longer than a week, then this injury might turn out to be a recurring injury that knocks him out for a week every month or so. Who knows? I don’t even know what an oblique is, but it sounds vague. Filling in for Hoffman might be Todd Coffey (my personal favorite), Carlos Villanueva (having a rough spring) and Seth McClung (bit more of a not-so-great starter than a not-so-great reliever). I’d backup Hoffman with McClung, Coffey then Villanueva, in that order. I don’t think Villanueva with his lack of closer experience and poor spring is getting the call. Coffey is wild, homer-prone and jittery, but has looked none of that in the spring. Then we have McClung, who sounds like a mouth breather. I’m thinking it’s McClung. Could be Coffey. I’d grab them both until it sorts itself out. But don’t pull too many important Jenga pieces from your team just to place McClung and/or Coffey on top. Hoffman is still the closer when healthy. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in spring training for fantasy baseball:
Wilson Betemit – Hit his 5th HR of the spring. Warning, I just drafted Betemit in an AL-Only league (I’ll reveal my team later today — Future Voila, snitches!), so I might make Betemit a bit of a poster boy for a week or two. Hey, I gotta have weird outside-the-box-they-make-no-damn-sense sleepers too, right? Oh, and even with five homers, Josh Fields is still outshining him.
Krispie Young – There’s a chance he opens the year hitting third. Yum!
Mike Napoli – Might start the year on the DL. Doesn’t change his projections. He hit 20 HRs last year in, like, 24 at-bats.
Rich Hill – Won’t be in the Orioles starting rotation. Shocker!
Max Scherzer – Someone in the comments yesterday said the D’backs are going to give Jobacum 170 innings this year. That’s pretty silly. (Not silly that a commenter said this. Silly because it’s true.) Josh Byrnes, how is he not related to Eric, said Scherzer would get close to 170 innings. 170 innings?! I keep writing it because it’s so unfathomable to me. This could be huge for this year, but this could have terrible consequences down the line. Oh, and how huge for 2009? That could push him over 200 Ks for this year. You’re looking at a potential top ten starter if he gets 170 innings.
Wandy Rodriguez – Continuing to nurse injuries. It’s still very early; I’m still on the Wand-wagon.
