Fantasy Baseball Impact: Evan Longoria fractures finger

The Giants and fantasy owners will be without third baseman Evan Longoria as he recovers from a fractured finger. How does this impact fantasy?

The San Francisco Giants added a few pieces this offseason in order to compete in the National League West. Along with outfielder Andrew McCutchen, third baseman Evan Longoria was another major piece to the process. Though both out of their prime, they could still produce at a high level. Well, we thought.

Evan Longoria suffered a fractured pinky finger on June 14 as he was hit by a pitch, tweeted by Kerry Crowley of Bay Area News Group. Though it hasn’t happened yet, he will more than likely be placed on the DL. While his performance hasn’t been all-star quality, this does have an impact in both real and fantasy baseball.

Evan Longoria is hitting .247/.276/.435 with 10 home runs, 34 RBIs, 28 runs scored and a 56:10 K:BB ratio in 66 games. The benefit of owning Longoria was his durability. He missed two games prior to the injury and played in no less than 156 games in the previous five seasons.

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With this injury, I expect Longoria to miss close to six weeks. This was the same injury that kept teammate Madison Bumgarner off the mound for the first two months of the season. The Giants will have to maneuver some players around to accommodate his absence.

The Giants have been using Pablo Sandoval at first base with the loss of Brandon Belt. Belt is expected to be back in the lineup next week. Sandoval will go back to third base. He will split time with Alen Hanson, the better of the two hitters.

Hanson, in 66 at-bats, is hitting .318 with five home runs, 17 RBIs and 14 runs. He also has a .361 on-base percentage with 11 strikeouts and five walks. The negative is that he can’t hit left-handed pitching. He has a .214 average against southpaws, which is why Sandoval will still get some playing time.

Luckily, there are plenty of replacements available on the waiver wire.

If you haven’t added Daniel Descalso for his second base or outfield eligibility, he can also play third base. I like having a few of these multi-position players for lineup flexibility. He is hitting .333 in the last 15 days.

Derek Dietrich has three home runs, seven RBIs and a .410 average in the last two weeks. He’s owned in just 21.5 percent of ESPN leagues.

A third replacement option is Johan Camargo. While he may not have the batting average, then again neither did Longoria, he can provide power. Camargo hit three homers with seven RBIs in the same span. He’s owned in just 3.4 percent of leagues.

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Longoria has been around for 11 years so a decline was expected. The missed time from the fractured finger doesn’t help his case. If you own him, you should feel no remorse in dropping him. There are better options available for your championship run.

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