Frank Thomas To The DL: Eric Chavez Off The DL Fantasy Impact

Oakland A's DH Frank Thomas has landed on the DL with a strained right knee and quadriceps tendinitis. The frustrating part for Thomas and fantasy owners was that the Big Hurt had just started to get it going at the dish going 11-24 with 4HR, and 6RBI in his last six games. Thomas believes the DL stint will help him stay in the line up more when he returns because they caught the injury before it could do any serous damage to his leg.

Coming off the DL for the A's will be veteran 3B, Eric Chavez. Chavez is coming back from an off season in which he had surgery on his back and both his shoulders. During the rehab stint he has hit .367 with 11hits, 2 of them coming by way of the long ball, 7Runs and 3RBI in 9 games. For the time being Chavez will be limited as far as playing the field goes, and will instead man the DH spot for the aforementioned Thomas. Oakland does plan to try and get Chavez some playing at 3B and gradually work him back into playing the field, while all the while making sure he can remain healthy and productive for an extended period of time.

FANTASY IMPACT

Tough blow for the owners who stuck with Thomas; you get rewarded with a DL stint. I am about ready to put Chavez into the "That Old Gag" category soon, as he has been unable to be productive or healthy in a few seasons. The fact he will be DHing will help, but I just don't know if his body will ever be the same after all the surgeries. If you want to look at the small sample size from his AAA rehab stint you can, but I don't think those number will correspond to what he will do at the major league level, over the course of the rest of the season.

The positive here, if you are hard up for a 3B and want to take a gamble on Chavez is that he will be DHing. Many leagues now use errors as a stat category and if Chavez is DHing full time, you will be able to plug him into your team's 3B spot and not worry about him burning you by making errors.