Roberts, Hill to DL

A day into the second week of the 2010 Major League season, and several teams are dealing with serious injuries in their middle infield.

The Baltimore Orioles have placed Brian Roberts on the DL, retroactive to Friday, with a strained abdomen. Roberts has been dealing with pain from a herniated disk since the spring, an injury he aggravated sliding into second base Friday. While an MRI revealed no additional structural damage, Roberts was given his second epidural shot on Monday and is clearly in significant pain. This injury will keep Roberts out through April at the very least, and could potentially affect his ability to play, and perform at a high level for the rest of the season. If you own Roberts, you should probably look for a semi-long term solution if you can. While Julo Lugo will take most of Roberts playing time, he’s not an option in mixed leagues.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays have placed their second baseman Aaron Hill on the DL as well. Hill injured his hamstring on April 5th, and while he played in the teams next game, he hasn’t been in the lineup since. Hill is eligible to return April 23rd, and there is no reason at the moment to believe he wont be able to. Hill believes he could have played through the injury, and manager Cito Gaston has said he was considering playing him yesterday. Hopefully this is just a precaution, and the injury wont linger. If much of Hill’s value was tied up in his speed, a leg injury would be of more concern, but that’s not the case. John McDonald and Mike McCoy will split time until Hill comes back. Neither are worth a pickup in any format.

Finally, Jimmy Rollins was scratched from the Phillies lineup for Monday’s home opener after straining his right calf in warmups. Rollins is scheduled for an MRI, and a DL stint is possible. As with Hill, we’re hoping this is just a minor injury, even if it does cause him to miss a couple of weeks, but right now we just don’t know.

So, who should you look at to replace these guys in mixed leagues? There aren’t many great middle infielders out there. Luis Valbuena, who was one of my favorite pre-season sleepers, is owned in just 1.6% of ESPN standard mixed leagues. While he has started off the season a bit slowly, he is plenty capable of hitting for solid average with moderate pop. Orlando Hudson is owned in just over 12% of ESPN leagues, and while he’s not great, he could give you solid production and guaranteed playing time. Skip Schumaker is another solid option. At short stop, Orlando Cabrera is owned in under 20% of leagues. He’s another not-so-great option, but should provide solid across the board production. Valbuena, Ian Desmond, and Johnny Peralta are other solid options.