Week 5 Injury Report: Pitchers Dropping Like Flies

By Brad Kelly | May 6, 2016

Apr 9, 2016; Anaheim, CA, USA; Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Garrett Richards (43) throws the ball in the second inning against the Texas Rangers at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /

Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney, and C.C. Sabathia appear to be headed to the D.L. for some time after a rash of injuries. Fantasy owners now have to work around these injuries, therefore what could be the potential fantasy fallout?

In a matter of what seemed like five minutes, it was revealed that three predominant starters were suffering serious injuries. Los Angeles Angels fans have to be left wondering what they did to offend the baseball gods as elbow injuries struck their ace, Garrett Richards, and now maybe the up and coming arm of, Andrew Heaney. In what should serve as the cherry on top of a miserable season so far for the New York Yankees, C.C. Sabathia is also heading to the D.L. on the heels of his great start against the Orioles this week.

Clearly the biggest fantasy impact out of the three comes with the Richards injury, as his torn UCL will more than likely require the dreaded, TJ surgery. He is one of the most underrated elite pitchers in the game, 2.34 ERA and 34 K this season, so it is unfortunate to see him have to basically miss all of this season and most of next year as well, especially taking into account the freak knee injury that he suffered a few years ago as well.

As if the Richards news was not bad enough, the Heaney news is just as damaging for the Angels and fantasy owners. Heaney is one the better young arms in the game and the Angels made it a point to get him last season. Even though he struggled in his only start this season, the news today that he also has UCL damage on top of the forearm ailment, surely could not have helped.

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By the time Richards returns for a full season he will be pushing 30-years old, Heaney is not even 25 yet, which makes the possibility of him going under the knife and potentially missing a season and a half, an unfortunate blow to his long-term fantasy value as well.

The Angels rotation will now be without its two best arms for the foreseeable future, leaving Hector Santiago as the team’s de facto ace, Jared Weaver, Nick Tropeano, and Matt Shoemaker, as the rest of the rotation. The rotation is clearly not pretty, leaving fantasy owners able to avoid their staff all together other than Santiago, who should already be owned. Look for the Halos to be in on Tim Lincecum or Kyle Lohse.

C.C. Sabathia gets a lot of flak in the baseball community due to his recent struggles over the last four seasons, but it is completely unwarranted. In a day and age where teams rarely let pitchers eclipse 100 pitchers, something has to be said for the constant strain he put on his arm over his career as he embodied the definition of a workhorse for every team he played for.

The fantasy world is all about what have done for me lately, so more than likely he was not owned in many fantasy leagues. The Yankees have has him on a short leash this season, but he has not given up more than three runs in any start, and just threw an absolute gem, 7 IP/ 0 ER/6 K, versus Baltimore on Wednesday.

However, today the Yanks announced he was heading to the D.L. with a strained groin, which also happens to be one of the more troublesome injuries for a pitcher to recover from, further prolonging the painful 2016 season for the Yankees. Ivan Nova will take his spot in the rotation, so the performance drop off should not be too vast.

Outside of Masahiro Tanaka, the rest of the Yanks staff has been underwhelming to say the least. Sabathia’s injury more than likely ensures that Luis Severino stays in the rotation even with his struggles, and we have seen that when Nova gets hot, he can be a nice streaming option.

Next: San Francisco Giants Joe Panik: Injury Outlook

For those owners looking for starter replacements, they could add these potential waiver wire adds: Adam Conley, Colin Rea, Josh Tomlin, and Wade Miley.

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