Let’s take a look at some of the bigger stories from yesterday, including another surgery for Johan Santana and the return of two must-start shortstops:
Three Hot
Returning Shortstops
Shortstop is not a deep position, so having both Jose Reyes and Elvis Andrus sitting out games is going to hurt (not to mention Jimmy Rollins injury woes). Both, however, returned to their respective lineups in the leadoff spot last night.
Reyes, always the spark plug of the Mets offense, went 1-5 with 1 RBI and 1 R. Andrus, who apparently has been plagued by the hamstring problem for a while (which may help to explain why he had just 9 SB from June through August), went 0-6 in his return to the lineup. Both players can be returned to fantasy lineups at this point.
Colorado Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki
I know we just touched on him earlier in the week, but he is just too hot to ignore. After going 3-3 with 2 HR, 3 RBI, and 4 R last night, he has now homered in three straight games and in six of his last eight. Over that span he’s gone 13-31 with 8 HR, 15 RBI, and 14 R. There’s no word for it but “unbelievable.”
Toronto Blue Jays OF Jose Bautista
He just keeps going, doesn’t he? He went 2-4 with 2 HR, 4 RBI, and 2 R last night, putting him at .266 with 46 HR, 110 RBI, and 95 R. Could anyone have seen this coming?
Three Not
New York Mets SP Johan Santana
The 2010 season now marks the third straight year that Santana has had to undergo surgery.
In 2008 he had offseason surgery for a torn meniscus.
In 2009, his season ended early to have bone chips removed from his left elbow.
Now, his 2010 season is over because he has a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder.
While it is expected that he will be ready for spring training, it really is too early to tell, as he is still seeing doctors and getting information. Shoulders are tricky and you just never know exactly what will be found when you go in to operate.
Obviously, this will continue to develop and we’ll learn more in the upcoming days and weeks, but you cannot like the initial news in the least. At this point, he’s going to be sliding down 2011 rankings, though we’ll know more soon enough.
Texas Rangers SP C.J. Wilson
The past two starts have been awful, allowing 10 ER on 13 H and 7 BB, striking out 10 over 8.1 innings. Having worked in relief the past few years, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him tiring down the stretch. In fact, since 2006 he hadn’t worked more then 73.2 innings in a year, though he has now worked 180.0 innings in 2010. He also enjoyed a little bit of luck (.262 BABIP entering last night), so at this point it is probably time to move on if you haven’t already.
Boston Red Sox SP Clay Buchholz
Clearly, he just didn’t have it last night against the Oakland Athletics. He went an inning plus, giving up five runs on five hits and four walks, striking out one. It certainly was ugly, but it is just one start. He hadn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a start since July 21, so just leave him in there and hope for a rebound. His next start is in Seattle, so there’s certainly hope for that.
What are your thoughts on these stories?
Make sure to check out our extremely early 2011 rankings:
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