Fantasy Baseball 2018 Starting Pitcher Injury Update for June 6

This fantasy baseball season has been riddled with injuries. There are three more players to add to the DL, two of which won’t be back this season.

Fantasy baseball owners cannot catch a break this season, especially when it comes to starting pitchers. Even with the return of Madison Bumgarner, and some others close to returning, three more names were added to the DL. Are there enough valuable names on the waiver wire to warrant an add?

The two new starting pitchers that found their way to the disabled list were Alex Reyes and Chris Archer. We also received unfortunate news about Jordan Montgomery. Reyes recently came back from Tommy John surgery. Archer wasn’t having his best season but is still subject to trade rumors. Montgomery was already on the DL was having a good season in New York.

Reyes made just one start after coming off the DL. He pitched four innings and allowed three hits and two walks with two strikeouts. He was placed on the DL on May 31 with a significant lat strain. News then came out of St. Louis on June 6 that Reyes will undergo surgery and likely miss the rest of the season.

Reyes was expected to be the No. 2 pitcher for the Cardinals after Carlos Martinez. The team also has Miles Mikolas, Luke Weaver, Michael Wacha and Jack Flaherty in the rotation, so they aren’t completely out of the division race.

This is another missed season for Reyes, the Cardinals top pitching prospect. By Opening Day 2019, he’ll have pitched just four innings in 31 months. Reyes should go undrafted in standard leagues. Owners in dynasty leagues have a tough task of either holding onto him or trying to get some value for him.

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Archer was placed on the DL with a left abdominal strain. He wasn’t having the best season of his career, posting a career-high 4.24 ERA and 1.336 WHIP. Archer’s 9.0 K9 and 3.1 BB9 are the lowest since 2014. The Rays have been winning in recent weeks, but Archer only has three of his own with six quality starts in 13 appearances.

Archer was the subject to a lot of the Rays offseason trade rumors. Despite the elevated ratios, he is still throwing hard, averaging 94.6 MPH on his fastball, and has a 48.1 swing percentage. If he could get out of Tampa Bay and the American League East, he could be in line for a dominant second half.

Archer will miss at least two starts with his stay on the DL. If you own him, you have to keep him. He can still rack up the strikeouts and has posted a 2.39 ERA over his last six starts, including the six-run start against Baltimore. Just hope that he gets out of that division.

Montgomery was already on the DL with an elbow injury. He made six starts and posted a 3.62 ERA and 1.354 ERA. He had a good 2017 and forced the Yankees hand to put him into the rotation this season.

The team announced on June 5 that Montgomery will undergo Tommy John surgery and will miss the rest of this season and some of the 2019 season. He was barely owned in most leagues to begin with, so dropping him should come with no remorse.

This news does give Domingo German a guaranteed spot in the rotation, though he hasn’t been consistent on the mound. The Yankees could call up Justus Sheffield. In 10 starts between Double and Triple-A, he has a 2.92 ERA, 1.155 WHIP, 10.6 K9 and 4.6 BB9 with a 1-4 record.

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If you need a starting pitcher to fill in for Reyes or Archer, Clayton Richard, Jaime Barria and Mike Leake are still widely available. The pitching pool is shallow but there are good matchups to exploit.

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