Week 24 MLB Injury Report: Playoff Problems

Jacoby Ellsbury
Jacoby Ellsbury
Aug 31 2013 Boston MA USA Boston Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury 2 stands at third base during the first inning against the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park Bob DeChiara USA TODAY Sports

Losing a top player to injury during playoff time can be devastating. Lose one now and you probably won’t be able to use him for the rest of the season. Hopefully, there’s enough players returning from injuries this week to bail you out in case your team suffered a bad break because one of your players did.

Jacoby Ellsbury (foot): Ellbury has a compression fracture in his foot and will miss at least a few weeks though he hopes to return by the postseason. Unfortunately, he’ll likely miss the entire fantasy postseason.

Clay Buchholz (shoulder): Buchholz is expected to be activated on Tuesday and start against the Rays. Buchholz is expected to start four games in the remaining weeks of the season after getting injured back on June 8. Buchholz was 9-0 with a 1.71 ERA when he went down.

Wilin Rosario (tooth): Rosario has missed the last three games with an infected tooth but it’s not a big problem and he could play as soon as Tuesday.

Carlos Gonzalez (finger): Another series for the Rockies, another series that CarGo will sit out. At this point, it looks unlikely that he’ll play at all the rest of the way and if he does it’s hard to see him being effective.

Dexter Fowler (knee): Fowler missed the weekend series and will sit out the entire three-game set against the Giants. It’s unclear how many games he will miss considering the Rockies are so far out of contention. Fowler was just 3-for-23 over his last eight games before going down.

Howie Kendrick (knee): Kendrick will be activated from the DL on Tuesday and resume playing over the weekend against Houston. Kendrick is batting .301 with 11 HR, 47 RBI, and 48 R over 419 at-bats.

Matt Kemp (hamstring): The season continues to be a disaster for Kemp who suffered yet another setback in his recovery last week. At this point, don’t hold your breath for a return, he’s not likely to be effective if he does manage to squeeze in a few games this month.

Giancarlo Stanton (foot): Stanton missed his second straight game on Monday with a sore foot and is listed as day-to-day. He’s not likely to play on Tuesday but could return before the week’s end.

Khris Davis (wrist): Davis is dealing with inflammation in his wrist and remains listed as day-to-day. He’s been out since last Wednesday but his MRI came back negative so he could be back any day.

David Wright (hamstring): Wright seems to be intent on returning this season despite being so far out of contention but how soon that will be remains a question. Wright is back with the Mets since the minor league season and he can’t play in rehab games.

Derek Jeter (ankle): Jeter is out indefinitely after reaggravating his ankle but will get looked at once again this week to determine the extent of the injury. Speaking of aggravation, Jeter has been incredibly frustrating, managing to play just 17 games all season.

Josh Donaldson (quad): Donaldson missed Sunday’s game with a sore quad but is likely to return on Tuesday against the Twins.

Domonic Brown (Achilles): I’m not sure why the irrelevant Phils don’t just shut him down for the season but Brown has resumed baseball activities for the first time since September 1 and is targeting a return in about a week. Even if he does return, his ankle injury isn’t going to heal until he gets a good amount of rest so I wouldn’t expect much from the breakout star the rest of the way.

Charlie Morton (foot): Morton had to leave his last start in the second inning with a sore foot and will pitch a bullpen session on Wednesday to see when he’ll be able to make his next start.

Starling Marte (finger): Marte has been activated from the DL but will be relegated to pinch running duties as he deals with a hand contusion and sprained finger.

Yonder Alonso (hands): Alonso has been out since August 30 as he continues to deal with pain in both of his hands. At this point, it looks less that he will play again this season with every passing day.

Pablo Sandoval (back): Sandoval sat out Sunday’s game against Arizona with a sore back and is listed as day-to-day.

Felix Hernandez (back): Hernandez continues to deal with back stiffness and will have his Wednesday start pushed back for a second time. It’s unclear when Hernandez will return to the mound but Brandon Maurer is expected to start in his place.

Allen Craig (foot): Craig had his walking boot removed and his sprained foot will be reevaluated this week. Matt Adams is expected to get most of the starts at first in his absence.

Yu Darvish (leg): Darvish left Monday’s start after seven innings with a leg cramp but is not expected to miss his next start.

Edwin Encarnacion (wrist): Encarnacion missed Sunday’s game with a sore wrist but is expected to return to the lineup on Tuesday.

Bryce Harper (hip): Harper missed the entire weekend with inflammation in his hip but should return in a couple of days.

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Igor Derysh
Igor Derysh is Editor-at-Large at XN Sports and has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Herald, Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sun-Sentinel, and FantasyPros. He has previously covered sports for COED Magazine, Fantasy Alarm, and Manwall.com. !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');