9-News: 39.090 – Injuries Influence Potential Expansion Plans
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 4:51 pm
Yi's Labrum tear throwswrench into works
“In-sung is going to miss this entire spring,” said GM Ron Collins during a community outreach event yesterday. “After that the doctors won’t say. He’s young, so he should heal, but it’s the kind of injury you never really know about. Everything is wait and see.”
Yi (23), has had an up and down career path to date, but had recently been drawing attention after posting a 15-6 record in AAA Indianapolis, and then tearing through the FPL (3-0, 1.33 at the time of his injury). Like most in the BBA, the club is in desperate need of starting pitching, and Yi was certainly going to be given a shot in the spring. Now, there’s every likelihood that he’ll be exposed to expansion teams.
Assuming that Djuretic, too, would be exposed, it’s an interesting pair and an interesting gambit. Djuretic has been one of the better relievers in the league for the past few seasons, but his injury, the fact that he'll miss much of next season, and his age makes him a bit of a risk. Yi appears to be an all or nothing kind of selection: perhaps worth a chance, but likely to come up a zero. Each team will lose three players in the draft, and the Nine will likely have some solid players taken from their ranks. If Yi and Djuretic are two of them, that could allow two more players to be protected and essentially reduce the club's losses to one additional player. Everything in that conversation depends on how the observer looks at risk, and, we suppose, on whether you now think Yi is going to grow that last touch of his stuff rating.
“We haven’t actually made a final list,” Collins said when asked how the team will handle the expansion process. “Our team is still playing, after all. But obviously we’ve had some conversation. The problem of having a lot of talent that’s worth trying to protect is a good one to have. At least a lot better than the alternative.”
