Fantasy Baseball Impact of Injuries to Alex Gordon, Joe Nathan and Others

Just when I finally came around and started to embrace Alex Gordon as a breakout player, he injures his thumb and will miss a significant portion of Spring Training. Awesome (please note sarcasm). He's not alone in dealing with injury, so let's take a quick glance around baseball and discuss the impact as it relates to fantasy baseball.

• Gordon will miss the next month, which means he won't be ready for Opening Day and he'll probably have to have a rehab assignment before getting back to the bigs. Thus, I'd expect him to be back May 1. If you draft him with that in mind, anything better would be gravy. He should definitely be bumped down to around 20, if not further, in the third base rankings.

• Joe Nathan is heading back to Minnesota to have an MRI on his throwing elbow. The Twins are still optimistic and claiming it's a precautionary measure, but there's enough information right now to at least be scared of Nathan in fantasy drafts. Bump him down a few spots and don't go taking him before any of the other elite guys (Mariano Rivera, Jonathan Broxton and Jonathan Papelbon).

• Brandon Webb is fighting through dead-arm issues and isn't progressing as well as he had hoped. Still, he thinks he can be ready to start the season in the rotation, even if the Diamondbacks are expecting him to open it on the DL. In terms of fantasy, for now, I like him right where we already have him. He won't come back until he's ready, and when he's ready, he'll be a solid pitcher again.

• Chipper Jones is going to miss Sunday and Monday exhibition games with a jammed thumb. Obviously, that's an incredibly minor injury and something Jones would probably play through during the regular season. Here's the thing, though: he's turning 38 in late April and hasn't been completely healthy for a full season since 2003. Expect him to battle minor injuries until he retires. In the meantime, I'll be avoiding him in all fantasy leagues. His name carries too steep a price tag for his production.

• Angel Guzman has a major ligament tear in his throwing shoulder. He might rehab for four to six weeks, but it appears he's leaning toward having a surgery that could possibly end his career. Guzman would have been an attractive middle relief option in deep leagues and many felt he could push Carlos Marmol for closer. Now, you should ignore Guzman in every format and those pundits clamoring for Marmol to be replaced will have to find someone else to salivate over. Personally, this does nothing to impact Marmol's value -- because I already thought he was going to be a stud -- but I think many people will gain a little bit more confidence in him.

• Jair Jurrjens is looking to get back on the hill soon, after being temporarily shut down with a shoulder issue. Even if he ends up behind schedule, it won't be by much and he'll be ready to join the Braves rotation without having missed a regular season start. This is good news for me, because I'm avoiding Jurrjens in all drafts due to a significant regression in ERA and WHIP. When the injury concern goes away, he can return to lofty draft status and be ready for Bustville, USA.

• Daisuke Matsuzaka is going to make his Spring debut on March 18. This isn't going to leave nearly enough time for him to be ready for the start of the regular season and could actually make him a nice late-round pick. Definitely stash him on your bench in anticipation of a late return.

• Russell Martin is going to miss the next four to six weeks with a pulled groin. This means he likely won't be ready until May, and even then he's going to need time to get up to speed. This is a big blow to his fantasy value and I believe it knocks him down to the late teens with John Baker and Ramon Hernandez in my view. Honestly, I don't think I'd even touch him. Sure, there's a chance he returns to form, but we're talking about a guy who hit .250 with seven home runs, 53 RBI, 63 runs and 11 steals last season -- and he's probably going to miss about 25 games.

• Finally, there will be a Jose Reyes update this week. If the news is good, I'll still be afraid to draft him. If it's bad news, it's possible he'll lose a large chunk of the season.