Fantasy Baseball – The Walking Dead

Published: 12^th Feb 12 9:56 am

by Mark Hock
Mark

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Tom Szczerbowski - US Presswire

In honour of the return of AMC’s The Walking Dead, I thought it would be a good opportunity to look at baseball’s walking wounded. These players are coming off injury riddled seasons, and are expected to play prominent roles for their teams. Are they worthy of a spot on your roster, or should we ignore them and make sure they don’t come back to bite us?

SP Dustin McGowan – Tommy John surgery, shoulder injuries – you name it, McGowan has probably had it, or had surgery on it. The hard throwing righty was an intriguing prospect, just on the cusp of breaking out back in 2008. That season he went 6-7 with a 4.37 ERA (3.81 FIP) a 6.87 K/9, a 3.07 BB/9 while earning 2.3 WAR. He was even better in 2007, and was one of the hardest throwing starters in the game averaging 94+ MPH on his fastball. In short, a dynamic arm in the making for the Blue Jays. However injuries prevented him from pitching in the majors until 2011. Yes, you read that right – McGowan hadn’t pitched in the majors for nearly three seasons when he returned in 2011.

His comeback last season was nothing short of a miracle. How he faired in the majors is irrelevant considering all that he’s overcome. While he doesn’t throw as hard as he used to, he’s still quite valuable if he can harness his 93 MPH fastball. He struck out nearly a batter an inning, but his walk rate was very high. Still, the fact that he succeeded without any pain is a positive sign, and this year McGowan can focus on controlling where his pitches are going. Anybody who has this kind of drive and works as hard as McGowan is someone worth betting on.

Knock on wood, but if McGowan can stay healthy he could be a fantastic pick up.

OF Grady Sizemore – Between 2005 and 2008 Sizemore was one of the best players in the game. He could hurt you with his bat, his glove or his wheels. During this time he ranked 4th in WAR with 27.4, right behind Alex Rodriguez, Chase Utley and Albert Pujols. He hit 107 home runs, stole 115 bases, and was considered a plus plus defensive center fielder. But then injuries struck, and Sizemore hasn’t been the same player since.

Sizemore’s about as fast as a Walker, so he’s unable to patrol center field or steal any more bases. His strikeout rate has ballooned to 28%, which is killing any chance of him hitting for average. Somehow he’s still able to hit for power (198 ISO in 2011), so there’s still hope that maybe Sizemore can be a useful option for the Indians.

It pains me to say this, as Sizemore was one of my favourite players, but you have to pass on him. He’s going to hurt fantasy players in every category, and it’s unlikely he’ll stay healthy. If nothing else, take the time to look back at all that Sizemore accomplished, because for a 4 year period he was one of the best in the game.

SP Johan Santana – A few years ago Santana was considered to be one of the top pitchers in the game. In spite of a declining strikeout rate, Santana still managed to put up outstanding numbers which have led to an incredible career ERA of 3.10. But nobody knows what to expect out of the southpaw, as he missed the entire 2011 season due to shoulder injury.

While he should be healthy this year, he’s still a question mark for opening day. Seeing as he hasn’t pitched 200 innings since 2008, it’s unlikely he would have pitched a full season anyways. And coming off shoulder surgery, it’s anybody’s guess as to how effective Santana really is. Still, something about Santana’s dominance leads me to believe he’s still got a good year left in him, and if you have a D/L spot it might be worth taking him towards the end of your draft. Even when he comes back, leave him on the D/L just to see if he’s worthy of being activated.

SP Rich Harden – He was bitten by one of the Walkers, and it looks like he’ll be out for 2012. Seriously, don’t draft him.

C Joe Mauer and 1B Justin Morneau – The Minnesota Twins are looking to improve over last season, but it will largely depend on the health of their two best players. Morneau has suffered from concussion related symptoms since 2010, and wasn’t able to fully recover in 2011. There’s a chance he could improve upon those numbers, but with head injuries I’m always extremely cautious and sceptical. I’d pass on Morneau, especially given how deep first base is.

Mauer’s a whole other story. It’s never a good sign when one year into an eight year deal there is talk about you switching positions. He’s never going to be as good as he was in his MVP season, but he could still be a productive option. If you’re playing in a 12 team league, it’s probably a better idea to wait on drafting Mauer. You might get a better value out of the guy who could have replaced Mauer had he not been traded, Wilson Ramos.

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