Ambulance Chasers: Bye-Bye-Bye-ron Buxton

Howdy, Razzfolks!

Four Roses neat bourbon tonight as I polish this bad boy for publication. Just in case you were wondering.

We saw plenty more of what we’ve seen all along this season, but we also got a few superstars back to ease the pain.

Infielders

Adalberto Mondesi: IL (oblique) – Good ol’ A-DL-berto at it again. Left way back on Sunday with another oblique injury that’s got him right back on the Irritating List. My heart is ready to move on, but my brain is telling me he’s worth whatever IL space your league allows because he can come back and push your team to glory just like he did for those GMs last year who waited out his terrible first “half.” This on-again-off-again relationship is toxic and unhealthy, but the peaks are some peaks and I just can’t quit it. 

Brandon Belt: IL (leg) – Left Wednesday with an injury that’s turned out to be knee inflammation. Surgery is possible and would obviously extend his 10-day IL stint. Stay tuned. Belt is the type I’d cut loose because I don’t think anyone would rush to add n’ stash, but he’s also the type you shouldn’t forget about when you start to see rumblings of a return looming. He’s still walking and barreling at elite clips; those two things can provide payoff in fantasy. 

Carson Kelly: IL (wrist) – Fractured his wrist last Saturday and will miss a few weeks but should return not too long after the All-Star break. 

Cody Bellinger: Praise be! He hath returned. This season has been so depressing that I’m bothering to take time to mention when players we really care about are back in action. Gotta insert some positive vibes when I can. 

Corey Seager: IL (hand) – Now the plan is to start rehab on Monday. Likely will return to the Dodgers before the week is up. I most definitely cannot wait for this. Especially in the Writer’s League where I traded Tatis to BDon for Seager (and others) right after the shoulder happened and I got scared I’d lose Tatis forever and get nothing for him. That worked out greeeeeeat. 

Daniel Vogelbach: IL (hammy) – Suffered a nasty hammy injury while trying to score from second, which is honestly something he just should never have tried to do unless it’s a potential winning run in a Game 7. Six weeks at least, maybe more. The D-Backs are such scrubs that his injured ass still scored on the play lol. Jomboy typo ftw.

Daneil Vogelbach limps home to score a run while injured and the Diamondbacks don't even try to throw him out pic.twitter.com/twdUUI0qgG

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 23, 2021

Jonathan Villar: IL (calf) – Villar was pulled Monday with calf tightness and hasn’t played since. He was DTD initially, but now he’s on the IL. Being DTD at first hopefully means it’s not all that serious and he just needs some rest time.

Josh Bell: DTD (side) – Got an MRI Friday due to side soreness. Gotta think oblique, but we don’t know for sure yet. 

Ketel Marte: DTD (hammy) – Marte sat again yesterday but was available off the bench. Decent chance he makes it back into the lineup today, but at any rate this doesn’t sound serious. He’s got a very healthy slash line on the year: .366/.415/.552 and like all the metrics are better than his amazing 2019 season. He good. 

Luke Voit: Praise be! Another hath returned! He’s already got 6 H and 2 HR in the four games he’s been back, too. 

Mark Canha: IL (hip) – Canha had an MRI yesterday on his strained hip. Severity isn’t known yet (at least at the time of writing), so it’s not clear when he could return. The A’s leadoff hitter has a middling .255 BA but a sexy .375 OBP with 7 SB on the year. 

Max Muncy: Praise be! Commence Maximum Muncy!

Mitch Garver: IL (“groin”) – Garver’s “groin” is feeling better and he’s started some baseball-related activities. Sounds like he’ll ramp things up more in the coming days and hopes to be rehabbing by next weekend. If you’ve been rostering waiver fodder in your C slot, maybe Garver’s out there for you. He’s still the #21 overall C on the Player Rater despite a poo poo April and missing time with the injury. When you sort by $/G and mentally delete the non-starters, he’s like #11. You could do worse. Coolwhip would say you will never do better. 

Tommy La Stella: IL (hammy) – Tommy The Star is a sneaky cheap add for BA/OBP help if you need it. He was supposed to start rehab this past week but a jammed thumb has delayed that a few days at least. 

Outfielders

Byron Buxton: IL (hand) – Left injured Monday cuz it’s Buxton and of course he did. Has a “boxer’s fracture” in his left hand after getting pegged by a pitch. Buxton just can’t catch a break…until he actually catches breaks. There’s at least the part where surgery was being seriously considered but now has been determined unnecessary, so this could have been much worse. But again, it’s Buxton, so something else will happen eventually. Don’t expect to see him til August anyway. 

Franmil Reyes: IL (oblique) – Reyes has been rehabbing with the Columbus Clippers. Can’t wait to have this guy back and go full Kyle Schwarber mode. I just got a feelin’. Rudy’s War Room absolutely swooned over Franimal, so I have a ton of shares. 

George Springer: Praise be! Activated! Homered yesterday!

Justin Upton: IL (back) – J-Ups looks almost like his old self this year, but he’ll have to sit awhile on the IL with a lower back injury. One of my very favorite things to do on Razzball is mess around on the Last 30 Day Stats page and play with the filters (I’ve started doing a daily tweet with my random musings/findings on there. Go mess around with it!). Upton is the #19 overall hitter in that span, but when filtering to just “OF” he’s #9. *eyeballs looking off to the side emoji*

Kole Calhoun: IL (hammy) – Plans to begin rehab stint next week. Don’t forget about his sneaky power if you need OF help. Just for funsies, I checked out his $/G on the Player Rater. It’s $13.7…the same as Juan Soto. Again, *eyeballs looking off to the side emoji*

Kyle Tucker: Praise be! My accidental 3rd round pick in TGFBI (thumb slip while drafting on my phone, doh!) returned. Luckily he’s been as good as I could have hoped for. His $19.5/G is better than the likes of Trevor Story, Ozzie Albies, Freddie Freeman, and Bryce Harper.

Michael Conforto: Praise be! Activated but only played one game of yesterday’s doubleheader.

Mike Trout: IL (calf) – Still not doing any kind of activities so a timetable is murky. I got excited when I saw an update on Twitter, but then I actually read the update and got sad again. 

Starters

Aaron Civale: IL (finger) – Civale sprained his middle finger flipping the bird to everyone who doubted him this year. It’ll keep him out for 4-5 weeks at least. Cleveland is down Bieber, Plesac, and now Civale, who is 10-2 on the year with a 3.32 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. His 10 wins are the best in the AL and tied for tops in the MLB with Kyle Hendricks. 

Jesus Luzardo: Not an injury, but the end result is the same in fantasy: dude got relegated to AAA after sucking as an RP. His dynasty stock is at an all-time low, but every smart investor knows you buy in at the dip, right?! Chances are good the guy/gal in your league who owns him is fed up and willing to move him. 

John Means: IL (shoulder) – An update on Means this week revealed he’s expected to return after the All-Star break. Still needs to progress to mound work before a clearer timetable can be seen.  

Marcus Stroman: DTD (hip) – Left Tuesday’s start early and had an MRI Wednesday that didn’t show anything of concern. The plan right now is for him to still make his next start, but it’s not 100% yet if he’ll be able to. 

Max Fried: IL (blister) – Hit the IL Tuesday with a finger blister but reportedly will be back Wednesday. 

Nate Pearson: IL (groin) – This groin injury has nagged Pearson all year and now he’s set to get a fourth opinion on it. He’s like a kid who asked mommy, asked daddy, asked grandma, and now it’s time to try his luck with grandpa.  

Sonny Gray: IL (groin) – Gray was supposed to make a rehab start Thursday for Triple-A Louisville, but he got pushed to today due to a sore back. That’s cool; he’s on the IL with a groin injury but now a stiff back is part of the equation. 

Sixto Sanchez: IL (shoulder) – Is now throwing from 120 feet. It’s progress, but I’m not really expecting him to play this year if I’m being honest. Why rush him? Miami sucks. 

Zach Plesac: IL (thumb) – Threw pen session Thursday and is getting closer to a return. Francona said he’ll do at least one more before they decide what the next steps are. 

Relievers

Lucas Sims: IL (elbow) – A sprained elbow (ruh rohhh) will sideline Sims at last 3-4 weeks, but that could always turn into more. You just never wanna hear about elbow issues in throwing arms. Sims was very, very bad in his last outing but really has been elite in almost every facet this year except walk rate. He’ll be the closer when he’s back or my name is KJK. 

Zack Britton: DTD (side/back) – Probably IL bound, but for now Britton is DTD. He left Friday night in obvious pain. Sucks because he had just returned from injury, but it re-solidifies Chad Green and Jonathan Loaisiga as the setup duo for the Yanks.

Find me on Twitter: @jkj0787. DMs are always open for questions, comments, concerns, complaints, etc. Odds are good I’m drinking black coffee, dark beer, or some form of bourbon at any given time.