Baseball Injury Report

The Baseball Injury Report, fantasy baseball’s injury authority, does all the injury work for you. We use our baseball connections, media reports, medical advisors and 13 years of experience to keep you up to date with all the latest injury situations. You can focus on building a winner by getting the most out of your roster.

Featured Note of the Week

Ryan Klesko (1B, SD)
Ryan Klesko’s surgery was completed without any problems or surprises, according to reports from San Diego. The medical staff believes he can begin his rehab program around April 22. Klesko won’t be able to do anything substantial in his rehab until mid-to-late May. Right now, everyone associated with the Padres are positive about his return and believe he can do so in about two months.

As I’ve written in the past regarding Klesko’s ailment, he wasn’t 100% six months after the surgery on his right shoulder a couple of years ago. It’s hard too see him back in eight weeks after this extensive a surgery. All it takes is one setback of scar tissue tearing or some swelling to build up to add a couple of weeks to his recovery.

Klesko owners should plan on a return early in July and maybe, if they are lucky, two months of decent production from him. But that does bring up another issue. If Adrian Hernandez is entrenched at first base, Klesko could be relegated to part-time duty and pinch hitting.

From Injury Watch Notes This Past Week …

Blaine Boyer (RHP, ATL)
Our suspicions regarding Blaine Boyer’s pitching shoulder were true. Boyer struggled with tendinitis in the pitching shoulder last fall and again this spring. After being medically evaluated after being unable to build up his shoulder strength the decision was made for surgery. They’ll do diagnostic arthroscopy or exploratory surgery to locate the cause of his pain and weakness. At a minimum, he’ll miss three months and isn’t likely to be of any fantasy value in 2006.

Mark Hendrickson (LHP, TB)
After struggling with a bruised femur most of spring training, Mark Hendrickson made a rush at the end of camp and was able to avoid the disabled list. In his first start of the season, the bar was set low because of his spring. Then Hendrickson rolls out a complete game three-hit shutout in his first start and all is forgotten. Then the report of stiffness, albeit minor stiffness, in his pitching shoulder.

The Devil Rays place him on the disabled list and indicate he’ll miss just two starts. Hendrickson said he went through the same thing last season, and a brief rest and a little bit of treatment by the medical staff it did the trick. We’ll give both the Devil Rays and Hendrickson the benefit of the doubt.

You can’t help but wonder if the 106 pitches in his first start were too much after throwing so little this spring?

Chipper Jones (3B, ATL)
If we read between the lines from the information emanating from Atlanta, the general manager says one thing, the team doctor another. John Schuerholz says Chipper Jones might not even need 15 days to heal, and he’ll be ready before the end of the 15 days. This is likely based on Jones hard-nosed reputation of playing with pain.

Yet the team physician indicated Jones might need prolonged rest. This just might be me splitting hairs, but a prolonged rest in my book isn’t 3-5 days, it’s more like 7-14 days. If he doesn’t do any exercise or baseball related work in the 13 to 15 days on the disabled list, it’s hard to see him being activated as soon as the clock turns over on day 15.

Right now, let’s plan on 21 days, give or take a day or so. Once we get a week into his DL stay, we’ll have a much better idea how long he’ll be out.

Sean Casey (1B, PIT)
The Pirates have lost Sean Casey from six-to-eight weeks with two fractured vertebrae in his lower back. More specifically, the transverse process in two of the lumbar region of his back are fractured. The transverse process is a part of the vertebrae that sticks out at about a 45 degree angle from the main portion of the bone.

To illustrate how serious the injury is, Casey felt a sharp shooting pain down his left the first few times he attempted to stand up on the field after the collision at first base. The good news is Casey will not need surgery to repair the fractures, shortening his recover time by a considerable amount.

From Injury Speculator Notes This Past Week…

Tim Hudson (RHP, ATL)
Two starts into the season, with the third due Thursday night, Tim Hudson looks like anything but a number two starter for the Braves. A strained left oblique muscle nagged him last season, causing Hudson to scramble at times to stay healthy. The oblique injury, something he’s struggled with in the past while with the A’s, reduced his ability to make a full and powerful turn with his torso during the pitching motion.

Though we haven’t heard any reports of oblique issues this spring, his numbers are hurting his owners. After two starts, he has just three strikeouts in eight innings. His WHIP is 2.50, driven by six walks in those eight innings of work. There haven’t been any injury reports to date. However, Hudson made an interesting statement during spring training.

Hudson dropped out of WBC because he had injury issues in the past. He wanted to be healthy for the start of the 2006 season. Is Hudson hiding an injury? We need a couple more starts (including the one on April 13) to judge where he’s at. If Hudson continues to pitch at this level, then an injury is the cause.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

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