Stars on the Shelf: TheFantasyFix.com’s Week 21 DL Report
photo by: Southpaw Captures
This will be the final DL report for the season. Fantasy playoffs are coming up, and it terms of most of the players on the DL the writing is on the wall regarding their return and impact with a month left to go in the baseball season. Thank you all so much for reading these all year, and I hope I was able to help you out regarding your injured players! Keep looking for me to post different types of articles through the baseball offseason, in addition my Monday Night Football preview pieces, and follow me on twitter @JohnnyCrashMLB. Thanks again!
Here is TheFantasyFix.com’s week twenty-one update on all notable injured players, right here in one spot. Here you will find an update on a player’s progress as well as my spin on their expected return dates and fantasy impact upon return. The players are listed by expected return date. 
The big addition this week is Matt Harvey, who has joined the long list of MLB pitchers who have torn their UCL in their throwing elbow. Harvey is out for the rest of the season and if he needs the infamous Tommy John Surgery, we likely wont see him until 2015. Awful news here.
NEW ON THE SHELF: Matt Cain, Brandon Beachy, Starling Marte, JJ Putz
BACK IN ACTION: Dan Uggla, Roy Halladay, Matt Kemp (Sunday), Matt Moore (Tuesday), Tony Cingrani (Thursday)
KEEP YOUR EYE ON: Miguel Cabrera
OUT FOR THE SEASON: Matt Harvey
| PLAYER | EXPECTED RETURN DATE | LATEST UPDATE |
|---|---|---|
| Jose Bautista | 9/6/2013 | Bautista bruised his left hip against the Yankees this week and will miss around 1 more week barring any major setback. He should be back for your fantasy team’s playoff run if you are still in the mix. |
| Matt Cain | 9/7/2013 | Cain popped his DL cherry finally. The right hander was hit by a comeback in his forearm and has officially made his first career appearance on the DL. Very impressive these days. he should be back on September 7th when he is first eligible, which is a big sigh of relief for Cain owners as they ramp up their teams for the playoffs. |
| Jason Grilli | 9/7/2013 | Grilli had another successful bullpen session and is on track to start a rehab assignment that will target him for a return to the Pirates a week from Saturday. I still believe Hurdle shows loyalty and gives Grilli his job back. He didn’t lose it due to performance. But time will tell. Melancon owners are certainly hoping I am wrong here. Either way, Grilli is back in a week. |
| JJ Putz | 9/8/2013 | Putz has been on the DL with a dislocated finger, but is slated to come off the DL when eligible on the 8th. The DBacks closer role is a cloudy one, and although Putz could get the job back, he hasn’t put up much of a resume to earn it between his injuries and his performance. |
| Carlos Gonzalez | 9/8/2013 | Gonzalez raked in BP the other day and claims although he has some lingering pain he wants to get going as soon as possible. If the Rockies comply with his desire to get back in the mix, he will hit the rehab trail this coming week which could set him up for a return to the Rockies in a week or so, just in time for most fantasy leagues playoffs to start. Keep an eye on this though. |
| Clay Buchholz | 9/10/2013 | Buchholz will start for the Red Sox in Tampa on Tuesday September 10th. He has been out since early June and will no doubt boost fantasy playoff teams if he is anywhere close to what he did in the first half of the season. Will patient owners be rewarded? We are about 10 days away from answering that question. |
| Starling Marte | 9/15/2013 | Marte is trying to rehab back from a sprain/contusion that placed him on the DL. He has been taking one handed swings. If he is able to hit rehab games in a week he could be back by mid-September. He’s worth hanging on to if you’re in the playoffs and have a DL spot available. |
| Matt Harvey | OUT FOR SEASON | Baseball took a huge blow when it was revealed that Matt Harvey had a torn UCL in his pitching elbow. It isn’t a full tear and Harvey believes he can come back next year without needing surgery but that seems unlikely. Harvey is obviously done for this year and possibly all of next year if he requires Tommy John Surgery. There is just too much of this going around in baseball. They need to figure out why. |
| Bobby Parnell | OUT INDEFINITELY – LIKELY OUT FOR SEASON | Parnell’s return is still up in the air. The Mets season is for all intents and purposes over with the loss of Wright, now Harvey, and the white flag of surrender trades of Byrd and Buck to the Pirates. While there’s a chance we see Parnell again this season, I don’t think it will happen. If he did come back, it’s not anytime soon which saps any value he has for your fantasy team going into playoffs. |
| Howie Kendrick | UNKNOWN | Kendrick’s progress isn’t much progress at all. Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia said he knows Kendrick will return before the season is over but that there is no timetable as to when that will be. With one month left and fantasy playoffs a little over a week away, you have to ask yourself what Kendrick is offering you at this point? |
| Joe Mauer | UNKNOWN | Mauer is feeling better, as he remains on the DL with concussion symptoms. He is set to do more baseball activities over the next week however he is not traveling with the Twins. There is no timetable for his return, and it is still a possibility that Mauer gets shut down at some point, especially considering the Twins are going nowhere. |
| Johnny Cueto | UNKNOWN | Cueto has finally just started throwing and has been traveling with the team so they can monitor his throwing. I have heard nothing about long toss, which is usually the step before pitchers get back on the mound. There seems to be a lot of doubt swirling around Cueto making it back to finish the regular season, but its not a stretch to think he’d be back to help the Reds in the playoffs. This obviously means nothing to fantasy owners. If you’re in the playoffs in your league hang tough if you can because Cueto can certainly be a big lift for your team when healthy, but its beginning to look like he wont be back in time for that. |
| David Wright | UNKNOWN | Wright is set to go on the rehab trail already. It is unclear how long he will need to be ready, as much as it is unclear how healthy he is. He seems set on returning before the year ends to avoid any offseason questions or doubt about his status. A lot of people are guessing mid-September, but I’ll believe it when I see it. With the Mets, you just never know. |
| Brandon Beachy | UNKNOWN | Beachy is back on the shelf with soreness in his structurally repaired elbow, but the good news is he didin’t reinjure it. The Braves will ease him back at a snail’s pace as to not cause any serious damage or reinjury. They have coasted through the season in first without him so they wont rush him back at all. His only has value in keeper leagues, if you are in a re-draft league he will not be back to help you much if at all the rest of the way this season. I dropped him in my leagues. |
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