4 Tips for Dealing With Early Season Fantasy Baseball Injuries

Within a 24 hour window I learned Miguel Montero and Aaron Hill were heading to the DL, Jimmy Rollins probably will as well, and Derrek Lee left his game early due to injury. In one league, that means a third of my hitters are on the shelf and I have at least two key players out now in all three leagues.

If you are facing the injury bug like me, here are four things to consider this early in the fantasy baseball season.

Take solace in the fact that these injuries are happening now and not in September, in the playoffs or when the final scoring push is on. I’m fortunate the bulk of the damage is in my head-to-head leagues, meaning I can suffer through a few weeks of short-handed play, hopefully making it up later in the year.

Avoid overreacting to injury. Use your DL slot(s) and while you may have to drop that sleeper pick, don’t make mistakes with the roster this early on. For me, Aaron Hill and Jimmy Rollins should have plenty of time to produce in 2010. The news on Derrek Lee is positive. Unfortunately I did need to drop Montero in one league, since it is looking like he’ll be out at least six weeks and I needed the roster space.

Don’t get taken advantage of. It’s easy to compromise value for what really are short-term benefits. If you’re like some of the managers I play against (or me from time to time), they’re chomping at the bit to offer a few lower-value options for the a stud player on the rebound. Make trades if they make sense, but don’t trade away talent this early in the season.

Assess the damage and react accordingly. Ask yourself what scoring categories you’re losing out on most with injuries and try to make moves to compensate. A more risky tactic is to overcompensate in core strengths, so you’ll hopefully have trade bait later in the year. It’s all dependent on what’s available in the free agent pool.

Injuries suck, no matter when they happen but they certainly take some of the fun out of the game when they happen early on. No one likes to start a season short-handed. That said, it is still early and there are a lot of games and moves to be made. Hopefully some of the karma will shift back your way as the summer heats up.