OMGreinke!

We all woke up this morning to huge MLB and Fantasy news: Zack Greinke likely out for several weeks after breaking his collarbone in a bench-clearing brawl!

Greinke, a first-round pick in our league this season, was having a nice start to the season with the Dodgers. Joe has him, so when I heard this news I knew I had to get in touch with Joe to get his reaction.

As you'll see after the jump, it's quite entertaining.


"Dude. Think of this scenario. I'm on vacation in South Carolina, and I wake up and go to the gym. I decide, 'ah let me do some cardio first for a warm-up' and turn on SportsCenter."

It gets better from here - just a few days ago, Joe picked up Carlos Quentin, the man responsible for breaking Greinke's collarbone in the brawl!

"I see that one of my fantasy players threw at one of my other players," Joe continued. "They brawled and that little skinny bitch broke his collarbone."

So who do you blame for this fiasco, Joe?

"I blame both. Both are [morons] on this God forsaken team."

Or perhaps as one manager, who will remain anonymous, put it: "Well Joe shouldn't have drafted a skinny little bitch. That goes against his beliefs."

Joe already has cut Quentin. Too funny.


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An apple a day...

Injuries happen. That's a given in any fantasy sport. What's not a given, though, is how hard you will get hit by the injury bug. And what's not a given is which players go down.

In our league, a team's keepers are usually his best players. Losing a keeper, in most cases, is the worst injury. Well this year keepers have gone down quite often. Of the league's 36 keepers, 15 have spent time on the disabled list this season (41.7%). Of those 15, 10 have spent an extended amount of time on the DL (at least a month).


Let's take a more extensive look at who has and who hasn't been fortunate when it comes to keeper injuries this season.

Hit the hardest? Adam, Andy and Jack, who each have had all three keepers on the DL. Adam has had all three out for extended periods of time.

Not affected by injuries (yet)? Bob, Joe and Rick - none of their keepers have been on the DL. Below, a look at each person's breakdown.

Adam (3)
Beckett (extended)
Pedroia (extended)
Ramirez (extended)

Jack (3)
Tulowitzki (extended)
Peavy (extended)
Bay

Andy (3)
Utley (extended)
Howard
Gallardo

Chris (1)
Sizemore (extended)

Dave (1)
Rollins (extended)

Mike (1)
Kinsler (extended)

Shea (1)
Morneau (extended)

Hal (1)
Reyes

Ken (1)
Lee

Bob (0)
None

Joe (0)
None

Rick (0)
None
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A ruling on Grady Sizemore

After a few days of deliberation and discussion, the rest of the league has all voted and decided that...

Chris will not be able to cut Grady Sizemore in-season.

Andy, Joe, Jack, Ken, Mike, and Shea make six votes - a majority. More inside. For the record, everyone else voted to allow Chris to cut him ONLY if he is punished by the loss of a draft pick or some sort of penalty.


One of the things that came up in the discussion was that this needed to be addressed in the offseason.

Maybe. Maybe not. To me, the rule is hard and tight - if a player suffers a season-ending injury, the manager has a right to petition the league to allow him to cut that player.

This has been in the rules for 4 years now. It's just the first time someone has actually done it. And I think the league responded correctly.

To me, the rule is in place for freak injuries off the field and deaths, something that would garner sympathy from the rest of the league. Sizemore's was a common ACL knee injury, and therefore, in my opinion, the league made the correct ruling.

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The adversity begins already

It's been a busy offseason for the Cole Miners.

They've had their parade, gone on the banquet circuit, done the interviews, and all of the good stuff that comes with a championship.

The 2010 season is already starting with a bump.

Joe Blanton and Brad Lidge will begin the season on the disabled list, leaving the Miners with THREE inactive pitchers. Throw in Jair Jurrjens' spring-training soreness, and things aren't looking very promising.


"I'll be fine. There's nothing serious," Bob said. "It's only going to be like 4 or 5 starts with Blanton, and I knew what I was getting with Lidge when I took him. I got an easy first-week matchup against Joe, so I should be good. I just need my pitching to scrape by."

But it's not just Bob who is experiencing a world of pain. Several managers will already begin the season with a DL spot occupied.

Mike's keeper of Ian Kinsler is hurt, Joe has Lance Berkman, Andy has Carlos Beltran, Hal has Jose Reyes, Dave has Huston Street, Jack has Erik Bedard, Ken has Cliff Lee, Shea has Brandon Webb, and Chris has Ted Lilly.

"Ian's injury does put a small damper on things as we break from camp," Mike said. "But it's nothing that is getting us down. Going into the season we were well aware of Kinsler's past history, yet we still considered him one of our best options. We expect nothing serious from this injury and look forward to getting him back in mid-April."

So that leaves Rick and Adam as the only two managers without a DL guy to begin the year. Does this present an advantage?

"Well I think it's a significant advantage," Rick said. "Our guys have been active and practicing together all spring. They've got a chemistry that you just don't get if you've been sipping lemonade by the hotel pool. You always want to see your guys healthy - it allows us to get a great start right out of the gates. I'm looking forward to a great season."

How does Adam feel?

"No comment," Adam said after several minutes of thought.

Is he trying to avoid jinxing himself? Could be. An interesting tactical approach by the Phightin Sillies, if so.
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Ouch

And I say ouch because it has a double meaning.

Ouch because some of these injuries look like they hurt these players. And ouch because, well, they most certainly hurt some of our managers.

Bob, Ken and Jack all take potential major hits this week thanks to the injury bug.

A broader look at the impact after the jump.


Jack takes the biggest hit, finding out that his could lose All-Star Adam Jones and Russell Branyan for the year.

On top of that Jake Peavy and Aaron Cook are on the DL.

When asked if this could derail his season and how he planned to overcome it, Jack did not seem too pleased.

"At this point no comment, but they are hiding my belts and shoelaces," he said.

Well, then. It will be interesting to see what he does with Jones, who has established himself as a potential star in this league. Jones may or may not be back this year, but is he keeper status?

And of course, needless to say, what does this do to Jack's championship hopes? He hasn't had a truly meaningful game in three weeks and won't for another week and a half.

As for Bob and Ken, both also took hits. Bob loses Michael Young for a couple weeks, and Ken loses Hanley Ramirez for who knows how long.

In fact, Ken was so mad that Ramirez left a game earlier this week that it caused a closed-door meeting in the Marlins' clubhouse after Ramirez had some not-so-nice things to say about Ken.

Ramirez said that he "got some people upset" for leaving a game early the night before with an injury, according to the AP.

"You don't get the same respect when you're not playing," Ramirez said. "I got people upset when I got out of the game last night. I try to do the best I can. Whatever."

Michael Young is another key shortstop with hamstring problems, and like Ken, Bob is going to feel this injury bigtime for a couple reasons.

First, he doesn't have many moves left, like Ken. Second, it's doubtful either player goes on the disabled list, so that's going to use up an important roster spot.

You have to imagine that none of these managers can be happy with these inopportune injuries.
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