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Ben Rosener looks at the fantasy baseball impact of reported injuries to Houston Astros starting pitcher Jose Urquidy and Los Angeles Angels relief pitcher Jose Quijada.
The MLB offseason and Spring training are officially over. The regular season is here, and with it comes the daily influx of baseball news that fantasy managers missed in the winter months. Lineup news, actual games happening, constant waiver wire moves, pitching assignments, and bullpen usage.
Baseball is back, and so too is fantasy baseball, with the draft season having just wrapped up, or otherwise being very close to being wrapped up. This column aims to cover any and all fantasy baseball news, big or small, and how it pertains to your fantasy team. Spring training or the regular season, it's covered here.
Has a player who's usually been hitting in the middle of a lineup suddenly batting eighth or ninth for an extended period? The fantasy implications will be covered here. The same goes for injuries and injured placements and whether or not you should consider picking up a player who was recently called up. Basically, any kernel of fantasy news and its relevance to fantasy managers could be covered here. Today, the news of the day is the fantasy impact of reported injuries to Houston Astros starting pitcher Jose Urquidy and Los Angeles Angels relief pitcher Jose Quijada.
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Fantasy Baseball Impact Of Jose Urquidy's Reported Injury
Houston Astros starting pitcher Jose Urquidy has landed on the injured list. The Astros announced, in a tweet from the team’s official Twitter account on Monday, that the right-handed starter has been placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder discomfort.
Urquidy has so far pitched to a 5.20 ERA and a 5.74 FIP in six starts spanning 27.2 innings with 23 strikeouts compared to 10 walks. And while the veteran’s run-prevention numbers are hardly ideal, it’s worth noting that he’s given up three runs or fewer in four of his six starts this season. This is including a two-start stretch where he allowed just one run in 11.1 combined innings against the Minnesota Twins and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Now, the Astros and fantasy managers alike will need to replace the veteran starter.
Per the tweet from the American League West club announcing Urquidy’s placement on the injured list, the team also announced that right-hander Brandon Bielak was recalled.
Bielak has made 46 career appearances in the majors, eight of which were starts. He’s logged a 5.13 ERA and a 5.21 FIP in 98.1 career innings at the game’s highest level.
One of those appearances came on Monday in a four-inning relief outing after Houston starter Luis Garcia exited the game in the first inning reportedly due to injury. The starter left the game after just eight pitches, per a tweet from MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart:
Bielak also made five appearances for Houston’s Triple-A club this year, including three starts. In those five appearances, he turned in a 4.12 ERA and a 5.71 FIP in 19.2 innings while chipping in with 19 strikeouts compared to six walks.
Fantasy managers are probably better off looking elsewhere for long-term rotation replacements for Urquidy. With upcoming series against the Chicago White Sox and Oakland A’s (twice) in the coming weeks, Bielak could have some streaming appeal in the right matchups in deeper leagues if he sticks in the rotation.
Fantasy Baseball Impact Of Jose Quijada's Reported Injury
Quijada was reportedly placed on the injured list late last week due to a sore elbow, per a tweet from The Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher on Friday. Fletcher tweeted the following:
The left-hander had made 10 appearances for the American League West club so far, logging a 6.00 ERA and a 3.28 FIP in nine innings of work. Quijada also registered eight strikeouts compared to three walks to go along with four saves.
One of three relievers with a save for the Angels this season, the left-hander had largely split closing duties with Carlos Estevez.
However, the recent opinions the team got on Quijada’s elbow were less than encouraging, per a tweet from Fletcher on Tuesday:
MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger also tweeted the following about the injury news on Tuesday:
If Quijada misses an extended period of time, it would all but solidify Carlos Estevez’s hold on the ninth-inning role in Anaheim. Tucker Davidson, who has one save, is the only other Angels pitcher to log a save this season outside of Quijada and Estevez.
The 30-year-old currently paces all Los Angeles relievers with six saves so far. He’s pitched to a 1.32 ERA and a 2.37 FIP so far in 13.2 innings, registering 16 strikeouts and six walks to go along with the six saves. Mostly operating in a timeshare with Quijada in the ninth inning, Estevez still ranked fairly high on the league leaderboard in saves.
Entering play on Tuesday, only six relievers had more saves than the right-hander.
With Quijada on the injured list, it's not hard to imagine the former Rockies reliever being a top-10 fantasy closer moving forward, especially if he gets the lion’s share of the ninth-inning chances. He's certainly someone fantasy managers should consider targeting in trades.
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