The injury bug has been quite infectious thus far in Spring Training. Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow will miss at least six weeks thanks to an oblique strain, while Padres star Joe Musgrove broke a toe in a training room accident. Here’s a look at the two starters, and how fantasy players could adjust to these injuries.
Related: How Will Gavin Lux’s Injury Affect the Los Angeles Dodgers
A Look at Glasnow and Musgrove
Rays RHP Tyler Glasnow was expected to be a big piece of the Tampa rotation in 2023, after he missed most of last year recovering from UCL reconstruction surgery. When Glasnow returned, he was quite effective. The 29-year-old power righty struck out 10 over 6.2 regular season innings, then posted five scoreless innings in the AL Wild Card round against the Guardians.
Musgrove, meanwhile, logged 181 innings for the Padres last year. The right-hander proved to be a model of consistency in San Diego last year, he posted a very solid 2.93 ERA and struck out 184 batters. Musgrove was one of 24 pitchers (min. 125 IP) to have a sub-3.00 ERA and at least 150 strikeouts.
Both high-valued starters in fantasy entering the 2023 campaign, fantasy players who have already drafted and own either Glasnow or Musgrove will need to adjust.
What Options Are Out There?
First, let’s just over how the injuries affect both Glasnow and Musgrove’s fantasy value. Glasnow is set to be out 6-8 weeks, another tough blow for a pitcher that has dealt with a myriad of injuries over the past four seasons. Durability is a concern with the 29-year-old, and this doesn’t help. Be cautious with Glasnow, who appears to be out until at least mid-April.
For Musgrove, his status is a bit unclear. No word has come out regarding Musgrove’s status for Opening Day, but we do know that he will not throw for at least two weeks. By the looks of things, it seemed like the Padres are experimenting with a six-man rotation that includes Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, and Nick Martinez at the back end. Should the Padres not have Musgrove for the start of the season, San Diego could either opt to go with five starters or slot in another arm like Reiss Knehr.
Martinez could be a potential replacement option for either of the two in deeper or NL-only leagues, but his track record is a bit spotty. Based upon owned numbers in ESPN/Yahoo! leagues, here are couple of names that are owned in at least than 40% of leagues — depending on format — that could be interesting substitutes:
Sandoval, in particular, is a name to watch in 2023. If you’re looking for more info on him, we did a deep dive on the Angels left-hander back in January.
