Los Angeles Dodgers

Yesterday, Eric Gagne, the best Rotisserie closer (Brad Lidge is closing on him but let's see where those Ks go when he's only pitching the 9th for the whole season), felt a pop in his knee after throwing a pitch.

Early reports say this type of injury could take six weeks to heal. I could not help reacting with glee. There is nothing like a Spring Training injury to deflate the value of a great player.

Normally, he'd be expected to be amongst the most expensive players in an NL-only draft, and this season was expected to be no different. $40 is not out of the question in a keeper league, and this is where I expected him to go.

What causes the deflation are two factors. The first is the fear of wasting $40 on a player who will not contribute enough to matter for the upcoming season. No matter how you cut it, there would be endless second-guessing and alternate scenarios build around how a team could have spent that $40 - an extra $1 for the now-apparent breakout player, $20 for two hitters that would have produced versus those two sleepers who kept on sleeping and so on.

The second factor is the disproportionate weight Roto players give to injuries in Spring Training and those that may last 3 months. If Gagne were out for three months, he’d be ready to return in the beginning of June if he could throw and the middle of June if he needed a couple weeks of games to build arm strength.

What is going on in June in Roto? Teams are beginning to analyze whether or not their standings are truly reflective of a bad team or bad luck. While I believe this is too early to give-up, others do. What needs to be considered is the season still has 100+ games remaining! While waiting for a player to return in two months takes more patience than some of the ADHD-afflicted Roto owners can bare, it is the patient ones who benefit as adding a stud closer, at a minimum, alleviates the need to trade for one. Or better allows you to get full-value in return if you do trade him.

This is much more beneficial than the panic that sets in on draft day when considering how much to bid on a player who can’t help for tow more months.