The new 10 day DL in MLB is causing some major headaches across all of fantasy baseball, not just the WLB. It appears some teams are taking advantage of sending starting pitching there for very minor issues, or even when they want to skip them in the rotation once, and gaining the extra bullpen or bench piece. With more teams using the DL already on in the year, it’s led to tough decisions across Wombat baseball.
For example, the Furies started someone on the DL on purpose this week. To be fair, they traded for David Price knowing he was hurt, but it’s not as if Cole Hamels, Felix Hernandez, and Ian Kennedy are all injury prone pitchers. In addition to them, both the Crab Cakes and Killer Pandas have played weeks with every bench starter on the DL.
What’s the solution to this? Probably nothing. It’s too early to really rush to judgment. That said, it’s worth at least monitoring, and discussing at the end of the year if we should implement a DL spot. CBS DL spots only allow players listed on MLB DL rosters, so there would be no way for anyone to cheat the system, if that’s a concern.
Another idea from the past could be considered too – we allow the DL spot, but it’s only allowed to be used once per year, per team. When they do so, it’s announced to the commish and the league on this site/commish message board/facebook chat. This system allows a team to effectively stash someone they want to keep all year in the event of a major injury, or “risk” using it on a smaller injury, when in a tight spot.
It may be a little early in the year, but it’s something to keep in mind. Feel free to say how much you hate the idea, and me, in the FB comment button below.