Can a player who has a self inflicted wound still be considered for the MVP award?

This morning I’m feeling nothing but disgust at the news about Carlos Quentin, who is on just about every damn fantasy team I drafted this season. He has a broken wrist that will be operated on to insert a screw to stabilize the bone. Doctors are doing this so that Quentin can potentially return to action in time for the playoffs. The playoffs! Well that won’t do me a bit of good, as fantasy baseball ends with the regular season. Now I have to find a way to replace my best player with just three weeks to go in the season. The worst part of all of this is the news that he did this to himself. He hit himself on the wrist with his bat out of frustration after fouling off a pitch! According to him, this is something he does all the time, but this time he just happened to hit the bone in just the wrong place with just the wrong amount of force. That moment of stupidity will cost him the rest of the regular season (at least), could cost his team a shot at the playoffs, and will almost certainly cost me a fantasy title if I can’t find a suitable replacement. So it’s off to the waiver wire for me.

To take my mind off of Quentin, I thought I would look over the injury reports for the NFL to see if I need to make any roster adjustments before the games start on Sunday. (By the way, in my main FF league, we decided to ignore Thursday’s game between Washington and New York, and just as well. What a stinker of a game that was!) The most startling thing about the report wasn’t the names that were on it. For the most part we’ve known who was hurt and wasn’t going to play this week for a while. No, it was the one name that was not on the report that startled me. After spending every single game for the last three seasons, including the playoffs, on the injury report with a shoulder injury, Tom Brady’s name was not on the injury report for the opener of the 2008 season. I don’t know if this is Bill Belichick finally deciding that the joke was no longer funny, or if the NFL finally told him to cut it out. But Brady’s mysterious shoulder injury is no longer listed on the weekly injury roundup of the league.

Forgetting the shoulder for a minute, there have been various unattributed reports that Brady actually has a cracked bone in his foot. This has been cited as the reason for the immobilizing boot that he wore a while back, as well as the reason he didn’t take a single snap during the preseason games. One would think that if he did indeed have an injured foot that it would show up on the injury report. Then again, Brady’s father is quoted in today’s Boston Globe as saying that Brady had a “stressed bone” in his foot, and that that was the reason he wore the boot for one day. Brady’s Dad goes on to say that his son never mentioned any kind of broken bone in his foot and that there is nothing at all wrong with him that would impede his ability to play football. Well, I sure hope so, because like Quentin, Brady is on the roster of several of my fantasy football teams this year. If it turns out that he is hurt, there is no replacing him. Not just on my fantasy roster, but also on the Patriots, who would have to turn to Matt Cassell as their quarterback if Brady gets hurt. If you saw Cassell in the preseason games, you know what I’m talking about.

Since I’m out there in the ether looking for replacements for Quentin on several rosters, I’ll share what I’ve found out about some of the players I’ve been scouting.

Now that Quentin is out, Paul Konerko will definitely be playing every day again with Nick Swisher moving back to the outfield. Konerko is batting .363 since August 1^st, with five home runs and 13 RBI. More importantly, he has more walks (20) than strikeouts (11), which indicates he is being more selective at the plate. Look for him to continue on his hot streak through September, historically a good month for him.

On the opposite end of the spectrum we have Jason Giambi. He’s batting just .229 since the All Star break with just nine home runs after hitting 19 in the first half. But he’s not nearly as bad as Marcus Thames, who was scorching hot in the first half, and batting just .185 in the second half. Thames had 17 first half homers and now has just seven in the second half. Needless to say, neither of these guys should be on anybody’s roster right now.

Wow. I just read that not only is Quentin gone for at least the next few weeks, but Joe Crede also may have taken his last swing for the Pale Hose this season and potentially beyond. His balky back is acting up again and it looks like doctors are advising him that continuing to play could lead to additional problems, so he will shut it down for the year. Apparently he’s been playing in pain for quite some time, as manager Ozzie Guillen recently commented that he “appreciates Crede’s effort to keep playing these last few months.” Crede was out for a while earlier this season and must not have ever really recovered.

Chone Figgins played his sixth game at second base Friday night, and manager Mike Scioscia indicated that he could continue playing there even when Howie Kendrick returns from the DL. It would be nice to see Figgins have that eligibility at 2B and 3B along with the outfield, as it really boosts his fantasy value.

It looks like J.D. Drew is just two or three days away from coming back. That sound you here is fantasy managers snoring. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

One player who is going to make my draft list next season is Joe Inglett of the Blue Jays. Since July 30^th he is batting .327, with a .376 OBP. He doesn’t have much pop with only three home runs, but he does have eight stolen bases and the potential for a lot more. If next year’s Jays have a lineup that features Adam Lind, Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, and Travis Snider driving in runs, Inglett could be a nice source of runs scored and stolen bases. Speaking of Lind and Snider, they both look like the real deal, and will also be on my draft lists. Lind is batting .302 with nine homers in 252 at bats, and Snider is tearing the cover off the ball in limited action, batting .389.

If the Dodgers don’t have the most fearsome outfield in the majors, then I’m really missing something. Matt Kemp is having a breakout season, and Manny Ramirez is his usual raking self, but Andre Ethier is truly en fuego. Since the All Star break he is batting .309 with nine home runs, 24 RBI, 31 runs, and 12 doubles. The Dodgers are a mere half game behind the Diamondbacks as of this writing, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they overtake the snakes and win the NL West with that outfield lineup.

Ted Lilly scares me. He’s had a decent enough season with a record of 13-9, 4.43 ERA, and 161 strikeouts in 176 innings. But did you know that he’s started 30 games this season and given up a home run in all but nine of them. Overall he’s coughed up 31 round trippers and averages less than six innings per start. If he didn’t strike out so many batters and play for such an offensively prolific team, he would be a sub .500 pitcher.

After what Brandon Morrow did the other night in nearly tossing a no-hitter in his debut as a starter, your going to see him flying off of waiver wires in every league. If somehow he is still sitting on yours, grab him and enjoy the K’s. Just don’t expect many W’s. These are the M’s, after all.

Don’t be surprised to see Freddy Garcia start a game for Detroit in the not too distant future. Word is they’re going to give him a start to showcase his stuff for a contract to stick around next year. Garcia was once a dominant starter who averaged 15 wins per season from 2001-2006. He appeared in 11 games with the Phillies in 2007 before shutting it down for surgery. File his name away for next season, but watch what he does for Detroit. He could be a great late round pick in next season’s draft.

OK Folks. Gotta get to work on Leading Off for Sunday. Enjoy the return of football and shake it easy.