Rest of Season Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Three Down

I am not a doctor and I do not play one on TV. I am also not Dave Funnell, who does an incredible job with daily injury updates. But there has been some injury news of late that may have lasting effects on rest-of-season fantasy baseball rankings. Here are three such injuries and what fantasy managers may have to deal with going forward.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand

Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s injury road over the past two months has certainly been a winding one. He initially missed three games at the end of April after being hit on the wrist by a pitch. He returned to the lineup on May 3, but only lasted four games before the team announced he had a fracture in the same wrist. An initial timeline of six to eight weeks was given. The team then announced that he was cleared for baseball activities last week. This seemed like a step in the right direction. However, Reds Manager David Bell casually mentioned on Tuesday that Encarnacion-Strand was considering season-ending surgery. It seems CES still has some ligament damage that may cause him to shut it down. Not only am I not a doctor, but I’m not entirely sure the Reds’ team doctor is a doctor either.

Needless to say, this is not good news. If you have Encarnacion-Strand on your roster, it likely means you have an IL spot or a bench spot you do not need to use anytime soon. If that is the case, you might as well wait to hear something definitive before making a move. But even if that is the situation you find yourself in, it is probably time to at least start the process of looking for a replacement. I still included Encarnacion-Strand in this week’s ROS rankings, but I cannot say I am very confident in him coming back anytime soon.

Kyle Bradish

The news is likely just as bad for Orioles starter Kyle Bradish, if not worse. Bradish left Friday’s start after five innings, and the team wasted little time placing him on the Injured List with a sprained UCL. Bradish was also diagnosed with a sprained UCL over the winter. He elected for PRP injections in place of surgery that would end his season. Bradish made his first start of the season for the Orioles on May 2, which was months after the initial diagnosis. I would be shocked if that was not the case this time around as well. And that does not even account for the very real possibility of surgery. I hope I am wrong, but I have a bad feeling this will be the last time I rank Kyle Bradish this season.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto

If you are just waking up after a restful night’s sleep to read this column, please do not shoot the messenger. Yoshinobu Yamamoto left last night’s start after two innings with what is being described as triceps tightness. His velocity was noticeably down compared to his other outings. Yamamoto revealed after the game that this had been an issue earlier in the week, which led to his start being pushed back. However, he said that the tightness had subsided enough for him to start. But the issue recurred. Given the timing, I would not be surprised if he was out until the All-Star break. The good news is that he is not on the Reds, so a full recovery is likely. For now, I dropped Yamamoto into the low-end SP2/high-end SP3 range in 12-team leagues. Next week’s rankings should provide a clearer picture of Yamamoto’s ROS value.

Rest of Season Fantasy Baseball Rankings