Fantasy Baseball Today - Hunter Greene Needs Surgery, Out Until July! (3/11 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)
Episode Date: March 11, 2026Hunter Greene is having a scope on his elbow that's going to keep him out until July. Is he still worth drafting and stashing on the IL? Plus, Corbin Carroll is going to return on Wednesday and the Ca...rdinals could use four different relievers to close out games. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CPTowers @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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We got an update on Hunter Green, and it's not great.
We'll discuss up next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express.
Welcome in to FBT Express on Wednesday, March 11th.
I am Frank Stample joined by Chris Towers,
and let's go over the news from Tuesday.
Obviously, the big update that we got here, Chris,
was that Hunter Green has bone chips and loose bodies in his elbow,
no damage to the UCL, but he's getting that elbow scoped,
and the hope is that he'll return in July.
So we've got to wait quite a bit.
Is he still worth drafting in a standard mixed 12-team league?
Yeah, assuming standard means you have multiple IL spots to play with.
Absolutely.
I think Hunter Green is worth stashing because, look, when this guy's healthy,
he's one of the 10 or so best pitchers in baseball.
And this should be fairly straightforward.
It's a relatively minimal, non-invasive procedure.
does not require ligament repair, ligament damage, anything like that.
So in theory, should be a fairly straight forward recovery process.
And Hunter Green, you know, they said 12 to 14 weeks, he'll be back in the majors.
That could be before the All-Star break.
There's not a lot of leeway, though.
You know, that's like if it's 14 weeks, it's probably after the All-Star break.
And if there's any kind of setback, then you're starting to look at like, yeah, that's probably
August and then he has to ramp up.
And so there are a lot of ways you can go wrong without even getting into like
Walker Bueller in 2022 had bone spurs removed from his elbow midseason and ended up having
Tommy John surgery before he was able to come back because he just had setback after stepback.
Things can go wrong.
Anytime you're opening someone up, things can go wrong.
So it's possible that happens with Hunter Green.
But based on what we know right now, I would say reserve rounds at least.
someone you throw in your IL spot.
And the nice thing about that is it gives you a couple waiver wire spots to play with at the beginning of the season, which is the most important time to have waiver wire flexibility.
You don't want to drop guys that you liked enough to draft, but you want to be able to act on those early breakouts who could make a huge impact for your team.
So I actually don't mind taking those IL spot guys.
You know, we did the auction on Monday's podcast, and do you end up with Carlos Rodan?
I had Hunter Green.
I drafted one of the other injured guys, maybe Merrill Kelly.
Like, it's nice to have those guys who should be useful when they're healthy.
And you can just throw them in an aisle spot and have a little bit of extra ammunition to play with.
So if you're in an auction, I don't mind throwing a couple bucks at Hunter Green to stash him.
and in a Roto League, you can get 90 good endings out of him.
In a head-to-head points league, you could have an ace come August to pitch you through the playoffs.
So I think late round pick, but I'm going to rank him just outside of the top 200, I think.
Do you have any interest in his potential replacement?
It looks like one of Rhett Louder or Brandon Williamson will take his spot in the rotation.
Louder is the higher-end prospect.
He's had an up and down spring.
Williamson has looked pretty good overall this spring, but again, not as big of a name there.
Any interest in either?
I would guess Louders the more likely of the two, given his prospect pedigree, the fact that he's pitched in the majors before.
Was a first round pick the year before they took Chase Burns.
So I'm going to guess louder is the guy, and yeah, I'm pretty interested.
He's a ground ball pitcher.
He's got a good change up in a slider.
Nothing is dominant, and I don't think he's likely to be a great pitcher.
but the cop I've made is like kind of a reverse Andrew Abbott.
Andrew Abbott's a lefty.
Gives up a lot of fly balls, but they tend to be weak.
I think Red Louder can be kind of that,
but a lot of ground balls instead.
Not a huge strikeout rate,
but could be a mid-three-ish ERA
and a best-case scenario for Red Louder.
So someone to watch early in the season.
Let's take a quick break,
and we'll be back with more news right after this.
Welcome back in, FBT Express going over to the latest news,
and we did get some updates here on the hamate bone injury
Corby and Carroll will make his Cactus League debut as the DH on Wednesday.
He is less than a month removed from having that right hamate bone surgery.
And Francisco Lindor has progressed to playing four innings in a minor league spring game.
He did that on Tuesday.
So he's getting closer.
And Corby and Carroll already in a game here, Chris, on Wednesday.
Yeah, it's a little surprising.
These guys are moving a little quicker than I expect them to.
But presumably the doctors know their health better than I.
I do. So if they're cleared to play, I don't see why I would view that as a bad thing.
And if anything, the fact that they're going to get into these games quickly means they're going
to get those reps. And that was my biggest concern with these guys. Not that the the Ham A bone was
going to sap them of power for months on end because I don't really think that's, it's a risk factor,
but it's not a guarantee. My bigger concern is they're getting off to slow starts because they're
missing spring. Well, if they're going to get 10 games in spring training or at least, you know,
the last 10 days of spring training in, that makes it a lot easier for them to get up to speed.
You know, they might not get the full spring training experience, but they're not going to go in
opening day cold. So that's pretty interesting for both Carol and Lindor. And I do think at least in a
in a 15 team league context, this pushes Corby and Carroll back into the first round for me. I think
Lindor's still more of a second rounder, but I'm going to go ahead and say I probably move
them too far down my rankings when I move them both outside of the top 20.
Josh Hader said his 15-pitch bullpen session was quote all positive and this was his first
time throwing off a mound since being diagnosed with left biceps inflammation. So we'll wait
and see how Josh Hater responds. Derek Gould of the St. Louis Post dispatch named four Cardinals
relievers that could be part of a closer by committee. Riley O'Brien.
Jojo Romero, Matt Svanson, and Ryan Stannick.
I think all along Chris, we were kind of hoping that Riley O'Brien would just emerge
and maybe Jojo Romero gets mixed in here.
But man, if there's like four names that are actually in the mix,
this could be kind of ugly for fantasy.
Yeah, it's never four guys.
You know, there was that one year with the raise.
And I'm sure there are a few other examples,
but it's very rare that managers truly treat it like a committee
where it's just, I don't know.
to have a closer today. It's just whoever struck my fancy. Maybe they start out that way. They
give those guys those opportunities, but there will be a hierarchy at some point. Nature abores a vacuum,
I think is the thing that people say when they want to sound smart like I am right now. And
I think eventually someone is going to step up. It does complicate things just because
instead of, you know, maybe two guys who could step up. Now it might be four. And it's if Riley
O'Brien has a bad week, and he might just be on the outside looking in for a long time.
So I still think Riley O'Brien probably the most talented closer reliever in that group.
So I think you just default to that.
But none of them are anything more than, I don't know, what's a four-way coin flip?
I don't know.
Two coin flips.
Yeah, there you go.
Trey Savage is scheduled to throw a two-inning simulated game against minor leaguers on Wednesday
that leaves time for two more starts,
though we're not sure if those will be minor league games or real ones,
and we do know that he'll be slow played to start the season.
Merrill Kelly will make his Cactus League debut this Friday.
He's a bit behind scheduled due to mid-back tightness.
Kyle Stowers is scheduled to return to Grapefruit League play this Saturday.
He has been slowed by a mild right hamstrings train,
but sounds like he is improving good news there on Kyle Stowers.
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