RADIO
Michael Brantley will be sidelined between five and six months after undergoing surgery on his right shoulder Monday morning.
The Cleveland Indians outfielder will likely miss all of Spring Training and potentially the first month of the 2016 season after he suffered a slight labrum tear when diving for a ball in September. This isn’t good news for dynasty fantasy owners unless they have the patience of not having one of their keepers in the lineup until the second month of the season. Even when May comes around, Brantley would be returning without any Spring Training and could go through a lengthy rehab assignment.
Indians OF Michael Brantley expected to miss 5-6 months after having right shoulder this morning. More soon on https://t.co/IjYEQBFBQp.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) November 9, 2015
Despite dealing with injuries all season, the 28-year-old still had a nice .310/.379/.480 batting line with 15 HR, 84 RBI, and 15 SB in 137 games this past year for the Indians after his breakout season in 2014. Brantley is one of the few fantasy players that can do it all. Some fantasy owners still might keep him because his value is so high.
Not one player in MLB had a better batting average (.319) and doubles (90) over the last two seasons than Brantley. He’s also fifth in on-base percentage (.382) and second in hits (364). If he isn’t kept, he’ll still be drafted really early.
The original plan was that surgery wouldn’t be required. After undergoing rehab, no progress was mad, which meant surgery was the next option. If Brantley would have underwent surgery immediately, he would have been set to be back at the start of the season and possibly for some of Spring Training.
