It turns out the area around 161st street that Yankee Stadium was built on was home to an ancient Indian burial ground, or is the new home of the Bermuda Triangle, or was cursed by witches in the 1600s, because that’s the only explanation for the injury plague the Yankees have dealt with over the last two seasons.
Already down Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Judge, Tommy Kahnle, and Zack Britton, the Yanks put two other stars on the shelf this week. Gleyber Torres went on the IL with a hamstring injury that looks to keep him out for 2-3 weeks after an MRI revealed no structural damage. We gave you Tyler Wade and Thiaro Estrada last week for DJ’s injury fill ins and the same names apply here. James Paxton is also on the IL with forearm discomfort. He’s avoided a worst case scenario, as an MRI revealed that there’s no tear that would lead to Tommy John surgery. His timetable is still unclear for return. The Yankees have been reluctant to bring up top pitching prospect Clarke Schmidt due to the fact that they’d need to make a move to their 40 man roster to do so, but he’s the most fantasy relevant arm on the horizon. Deivi Garcia is the other big time prospect to watch here if this injury keeps Paxton out for a while. There’s also been heavy rumors of trade activity for the Yankees to get an arm with Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger, and Zach Plesac being the mosts talked about targets.
It wasn’t all bad news for the Yankees as Aaron Judge came off the IL from his short injury stint, as did Ronald Acuna for the Braves.
The Astros are also hurting big time this season, but we can attribute that to karma rather than some other supernatural force. Add George Springer and Alex Bregman to the list of ailing Astros. Springer has been in and out of the lineup for the last month with minor issues, but he finally hit the IL with an elbow contusion. It’s not serious, so he shouldn’t be out long, but the Astros are already pretty thin in the outfield. They did get Michael Brantley back, which should help. Alex Bregman is hitting the IL with a bit more serious hamstring issue. He’s going to miss several weeks. Abraham Toro, again, is the name here to grab if you didn’t after last week.
We discussed Stephen Strasburg last week, and unfortunately, he was transferred to the 60 day IL this week, effectively ending his 2020 season.
We also have been chronicling the Padres closer situation after they lost Kirby Yates, and now they’re down another bullpen arm as Drew Pomeranz hits the IL with a shoulder strain. Emilio Pagan steps into the closer role now, and Luis Patino is probably the next best guy to grab here for speculative saves. Another closer situation to watch is Keone Kela in Pittsburgh. He’s been dinged up lately but is technically “available” according to Derek Shelton. If there’s any letup on his workload, Richard Rodriguez stands to benefit.
Moving to the other side of the battery, we’ve got a couple catchers that have hit the IL this week in Mitch Garver and Salvador Perez. Garver has a side strain and Perez is dealing with blurred vision. Neither fill in options are super exciting, but Alex Avila is probably the best of the bunch.
The Twins also placed Jake Odorizzi and Byron Buxton on the IL (shoulder), stop me if you’ve heard that one before. Jake Cave is filling in in center along side Lamonte Wade Jr. Cave is the better option of the two to go grab.
Matt Shoemaker is week to week with a shoulder injury…Anthony Kay stands to make a few spot starts while he’s out.
Merrill Kelly has a blood clot issue that he had taken car of this week, he’ll be out for a while….please don’t pick up any fill ins in the Pirates rotation, just close your browser and go meditate or something and reflect on what mistakes led you to even remotely consider such a move.
