TYPES!

[DOUGHBOYS]

CRIPES!
You'd think the sky is falling with the talk of injury. It's almost as if during our off season study and drafting that we forget that these players get hurt. Then, when they do, we remember that our fantasy life is not about just who drafted best.
Some, call injuries luck or unpredictable.
Some, call injuries semi-predictable.
Some, call injuries part of the game.
Some, call injuries bastards.
Some, do all of the above.
I'm in the last group.

GRIPES!
Some of us that are afflicted with injury will bemoan their luck.
And that's ok.
We all grieve in different ways.
You may laugh, but it is like we're losing a loved one. And in a fantasy sense, we are.
Some of our players go quickly, making it easier for us to let them go. Avisail Garcia died a quick death.
Here today, gone tomorrow.
Tommy John victims fall into this category as well. These pitchers are riding a Malaysian airline. We wonder why it happened and where they went. Then, put them out of our minds
Fantasy death is instantaneous.
Other players pass more slowly.
Chipper Jones may have been one of the worst. He had fantasy Alzheimers. He would give his owners hope in being lucid for long periods, then not know anybody, least of all, his owner. His owners could only wait for another moment of lucidness.
Until then, we would be forced to re-live his affliction every time we saw his name on our bench.
Brian Roberts is our Aunt Gladys who seems to spend more time in the hospital than her home. Aunt Gladys and Roberts are hurting so much that it never comes as a surprise that they are once again bed-ridden.

HYPES!
During the off season, we fall in love with a players capabilities and skills. When we do this, we tend to push another skill to the side. The skill of staying on the field.
Bryce Harper does not deserve an ADP in the first round. He just doesn't.
He plays like a screaming woman in a horror flick. Harper is 21 and bulletproof.
Fans admire the way he plays. As a fantasy player he makes me cringe.
Harper is texting while driving 60 mph down a city street.
He plays the game like a crash test dummy. And until he learns the skill of playing within himself, his ADP will always be out of whack.
Harper has never hit 25 homers or even had 70 rbi or ever hit .300
His skill of getting hurt precludes him from obtaining larger numbers.
He is a product of hype.
Players draft him because of what could be. Forgetting, what he is. An accident waiting to happen.

STRIPES!
Some players never change their stripes. They'll get hurt. It would be unfair of me to pile on and conclude that drafters should have known about Harper without naming others who will also get hurt.
They'll get hurt for different reasons.
Troy Tulowitzki will get hurt. He still plays shortstop the same way. Making unnecessary twisting throws from the position.
Shortstop kicks Tulo's ass. If he makes it through the season without an injury, I would be very surprised.
Chase Utley crowds the plate so much that he is like a kid playing with matches. His owners will get burned,
Yasiel Puig. He drives 120 mph in a car and slows to 90 mph without one. He plays the game like Harper. Finding it unnecessary to run out ground balls, but necessary to run into walls.
It would shock me if he went through even one year without seeing the dl list.

SNIPES!
I'm not trying to rub salt in injured wounds. I do believe in in-season management. Charlie Blackmon is the current number one player in fantasy baseball. He was hardly drafted in Main Events. For April, he is everything that Harper owners could have expected from their guy and more.
We are all in the same boat. We don't know what will happen with any player tomorrow. We each measure the possibilities of what each player will do on the field. It's easy to forget about the skill of staying on the field.
Thoughts of Bryce Harper hitting 50 homers pushes aside injury probability.
But whether liking the credo or not, injuries are a part of our game.
We just have to remember that during the off season.

Edit-
America is at the height of wussification. Especially baseball.
If Aroldis Chapman gets hit in the face with the ball, pitchers should wear headgear.
If Pineda gets caught with pine tar on his neck, there should be a pine tar bag near the mound.
If Harper, Hamilton, and Zimmerman hurt digits with head first slides, ban head first slides.
AARRGHH!
Excuse my language, but tell the safety police to fuck off!
Games with no risk at all will be games that folks lose interest in.
We can't make outfield walls out of marshmallow!....umm marshmallow...
Players are gonna get hurt. Plain and simple.
Quit screwing with the game!
Catchers have no idea how to set their feet at home plate now. Umpires do not know how to enforce blockage of the plate or refuse to.
AARRGHH! Never mind, went off on a tangent...

If Bryce Harper had not hurt his thumb on a slide, he would have found another way to get hurt.
I firmly believe that. It's the nature of his beast.
Only individual players can stop themselves from getting hurt.
The poster child for how to play baseball without getting hurt is Ichiro Suzuki.
He hardly ever dives for a ball.
He never crashes into fences.
He runs the same whether it's an easy ground out or trying to beat a throw.
He plays 100 per cent. And 100 per cent under control.

We give ourselves a frame of reference in measuring a players talent.
We'll bet through the eye test that Jose Abreu will hit 50 homers when doing our 2015 homework.
We'll also know that he is a 'sloth' otherwise. A baseball sloth is one without much movement on the field. Less movement on the field reduces the chance for injury. We can select Abreu and have less fear that he will get hurt.
When doing our eye tests this year in getting ready for next year, note not only the skills displayed on the field, but the technique in how those skills are displayed.
Injury risks can be picked up, just like a players tendency to strike out a lot.
It's not measured in numbers, so for some, it'll be a little more difficult.
Injury and its chances, are a factor that cannot be ignored.
We can't do this with pitchers. But, we can with offensive players.
And it'll be more important with each passing year.

[headhunters]

another great post. an aside- on mlb they said cal ripkin ( you remember- a good player that ALWAYS played) always slid feet 1st and with his hands up- so as NOT to hurt them. No one really wants to say it, they say they "play hard" or "play stupid" but honestly some- harper, maybe tulo, for sure hamilton- just... don't....care. That is ok with me- but i would like to see them get called on it. Maybe 5 days of being on the scroll on espn- "hamilton hurt again- because he just doesn't care" or" tulo out a week for quad tightness- my grandma played with quad tightness"- might help. Double aside- when williams called out harper for not hustling ( which was beyond dumb) i literally said to my son-" I bet it takes harper less than a month to hurt himself "hustling". took 2 days.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Thanks Mike and so agree.
Harper seems to be media driven. They love his over-aggressive style of play and seemingly remind him each day.
Harper is young and wants to please everybody.
Head long slides, airborne for a long time?
Sure.
Dive for a ball obviously out of reach?
Sure.
Crash into a wall going after an impossible catch?
You bet!

Harper really isn't hustling more or less than any other player. He just takes a more dangerous route in showing 'hustle'.
And if he's dangerous on the field, he's a danger to own.
Harper is young and stupid. I can draft young. I have a hard time with stupid.

[DOUGHBOYS]

As if to drive home the media-driven point....


'Bryce Harper underwent surgery Tuesday to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb.

Harper tweeted a "thumbs up" picture from his hospital bed on Tuesday afternoon -- using his right thumb, of course.'