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Cardinals’ manager Mike Matheny didn’t seem to think much of it when Paul DeJong was hit on the left hand by a pitch from Phillies’ right-hander Luis Garcia on Thursday. DeJong trotted down to first base and didn’t show any signs of any serious injury. He remained in the game, and even took his next at-bat in the ninth inning where he lined out to the shortstop.
Unfortunately, postgame X-rays revealed the surprisingly bad news. DeJong had fractured his left hand.
Matheny told reporters on Friday, “You’re always worried when guys get hit in the wrist or the hand, knowing it’s fragile,... to be honest with you when he got to first base I didn’t think much about it because he didn’t think much about it. … It actually kind of went past us because he handled the pain as well as he did.”
DeJong underwent successful surgery on Friday night, where doctors inserted a plate into his hand to accelerate the healing process. The Cardinals have yet to name a definitive timetable for his return, but general manager John Mozeliak said that had he not undergone the surgery he would have likely been sidelined for 8-to-12 weeks.
Mozeliak also expressed his disappointment to reporters, “A lot of adjectives come to mind; disappointing, frustrating, tough to navigate.. that part is a struggle for us to manage, but there is no pity party for us. We’re going to play a game tonight and our expectations are to win it. The guys we roll out there we expect to play at a major-league level.”
His loss will be difficult for the Cardinals to absorb. DeJong had been the only Cardinal to play in every game this season and he’s their team leader with eight home runs while hitting .260 with 19 RBI.
Jedd Gyorko will seemingly be the biggest beneficiary here from a fantasy perspective, as he’s expected to draw the bulk of the starts at shortstop while DeJong is sidelined. Matheny confirmed as much, saying that the club’s offense will be the driving factor behind who gets work in DeJong’s absence.
Yairo Munoz was recalled from Triple-A Memphis on Friday and will also see action there, though he remains largely irrelevant in most fantasy leagues.
Matheny, ever the optimist, remained upbeat and chose to look on the bright side of the situation going forward, “I love the challenge our club has in front of us right now… I believe any of the doubt that is out there right now about what we can do is an insult. We take it that way. We’ve got guys who are completely capable of going out there and doing special things… There’s so much room for us to climb and grow and get better. I can’t wait to watch it happen.”
While it’s easy for him to remain upbeat and use the “next man up” approach, it’ll be far more difficult for fantasy owners to replace DeJong’s power production. If indeed Gyorko sees the lion’s share of the at-bats at the position, he makes for a viable pickup if he’s available. Another decent option that is available in over 70 percent of Yahoo leagues is Brandon Crawford. The Giants’ shortstop is slashing .291/.325/.424 with three homers and 15 RBI in his 43 games. Dansby Swanson, who will be activated from the disabled list on Saturday, is another intriguing option if available.
