The first week of the regular season included some curveballs. The Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners are a combined 2-11 to start the season in the American League. Meanwhile, the Arizona Diamondbacks own the best record in the National League at 6-1. Injuries have also played a role early on with some key players forced to miss time. Here is a look at some important early season injuries around the MLB.
OF: Jackie Bradley Jr., Boston Red Sox
The good news for the Red Sox is that they won’t need to put Bradley on the disabled list. The bad news is that he will miss some time after hyper-extending his right knee rounding the bases on Saturday. Bradley’s injury required an MRI but he is expected to make a return at some point this week. Boston is very fortunate that the injury wasn’t worse as Bradley is currently listed day-to-day.
SS: Trea Turner, Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals dealt with a number of key injuries last year and they’ve got another one to start the 2017 season. Shortstop Trea Turner has landed on the disabled list with a hamstring strain. The good news is that it doesn’t appear to be that serious.
If you’re playing MLB fantasy, the name to know is Stephen Drew as he’ll fill in temporarily. The Nats have also called up Michael Taylor in a corresponding move for depth.
SP: David Price, Boston Red Sox
Monday marked Price’s first bullpen session since he was shut down with a left elbow injury in early March. The veteran starter threw about 25 pitches to test the arm. The Red Sox are hoping that he can ramp up the number of pitches he throws in bullpen sessions before eventually facing hitters in his road back to game action. There is still hope that Price can rejoin the rotation at some point in May. However, considering the nature of his injury there is absolutely no guarantee he will be back that soon.
C: Gary Sanchez, New York Yankees
Sanchez landed on the 10-day disabled list after he suffered a right biceps strain on a swing over the weekend. Sanchez was in a lot of pain so the Yankees decided to conduct an MRI on the arm to figure out the extent of the injury. The results were not good as Sanchez is now expected to miss the next month with a biceps injury.
This is comes at a bad time for most MLB fantasy general managers as the catcher position has been particularly week across the board. Now there is one less name to rely upon, which means it’s time to go waiver wire digging.
1B: Greg Bird, New York Yankees
New York will also be without Bird this week as he continues to deal with an ankle injury. Joe Girardi said that his absence is more about illness than ankle at this point but the bottom line is that he is not ready to return right now. Chris Carter will continue to fill in for Bird at first base for now. Considering all indications are that his return is close, it will be interesting to see how soon Bird is ready to join the Yankees lineup.
OF: Jason Kipnis, Cleveland Indians
Kipnis is in Double-A Akron for a minor league rehab assignment as he continues to work his way back to Cleveland. The veteran slugger is making tangible progress towards a return with the Indians hoping he can be back before the end of April. Kipnis was sidelined with a right shoulder injury but he feels fine and hasn’t had any setbacks throughout his rehab process. Nobody in Cleveland is panicking after the club split its first six games. However, Indians fans and fantasy baseball owners will be looking forward to having Kipnis back in the lineup.
OF: Justin Upton, Detroit Tigers
Upton’s injury is not major, but worth monitoring. He missed Monday’s game with upper back tightness. It looks like he’ll simply be day-to-day for now, but you never like seeing back injuries this early in the season. Back injuries need rest to recover, so hopefully this is something minor for him.
The MLB season is finally here, so if you’re looking at betting lines and World Series futures, click here to bet on MLB (or any other sports) at BetDSI!
