Fantasy Baseball

Alex Rodriguez keeps hitting homeruns, the Yankees keep losing and players keep getting injured. That’s been the pattern for much of the early season.

Here are the injury updates with some familiar faces.

Mark Prior - After looking like he was going to be a stud early in his career, Prior has been injured almost constantly in recent history. With the way his arm has fallen apart, it’s starting to become doubtful whether he’ll ever make it fully back to where he was. The latest news is that Prior is going to undergo exploratory surgery on his right shoulder. It’s pretty safe to assume that he’s not going to have much of a fantasy impact this season. The only way he should be on your team is if you are playing in a dynasty or keeper list and you either have huge rosters or an injury list where you can stash him.

Eric Gagne - Another guy who knows the inside of a doctor’s office is Eric Gagne. After missing a lot of action over the last couple seasons, Gagne is injured again. This time it’s his hip. The good news is the injury doesn’t seem that severe and should only sideline him for 15 days. He’s still a borderline fantasy player even in the biggest of leagues until he can prove he’s more than an injury waiting to happen.

Ken Griffey, Jr. - When talking injuries, you have to mention this guy. Junior went from a guy who looked like he was going to go down as perhaps the best player of all-time, to a guy who spent the better part of the last five years dealing with numerous injuries. The latest reason why he missed time was due to him recovering from diverticulitis. Junior should be back in the lineup on Tuesday, which is the good news. The bad news is that if diverticulitis doesn’t shelf him again, recent history tells us something else will.

Rich Harden - Our fourth and final injury update comes from our fourth guy who knows all to well what it’s like to be injured. Rich Harden, who even though he’d make Mark Prior seem like Cal Ripken, Jr., has battled various injuries over the last couple seasons. He had 31 starts in 2004, but only 31 starts since then. He’s now going back on the DL with a shoulder injury. As of right now, it looks like it isn’t serious. But as with any of this foursome, it’d be best to prepare for the worst.