INJURY UPDATE: Schilling out until All-Star break; Be wary of Escobar

February has come. Football has ended. At last, the original fantasy sport has arrived — and it’s time now to start jotting down notes for your baseball draft:

Note #1: Don’t count on Curt Schilling. He’s last year’s version of Pedro Martinez.
Note #2: Be wary of Kelvim Escobar. The phrase “experiencing discomfort in shoulder” is never a good sign.

It’s sad to see Schilling fall prey to injury issues. I’ve always been one of those fantasy owners who just loves having Schilling on their teams. After all, he was a “warrior” long before the “bloody sock” performance took place. Who can forget those 300 K years back in Philly… or the horde of 7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 7 K lines he would provide year in and year out? Supposedly Schilling’s biceps looks like “three strands of spaghetti” and he’s experiencing pain even when doing simple tasks like shaking hands or opening doors.

The Red Sox are reportedly adamant that Schilling avoid surgery, and instead, take the route of cortisone shots and rehabilitation. Surgery or no surgery, it looks like Schilling will be out until the All-Star break at the very least… and I’m not going to be one of those owners holding their breath for Schilling to help their fantasy teams in ‘08. Last year, there were plenty of owners who wasted draft picks on the almighty Pedro — wishfully hoping he would make an early return from shoulder surgery and anchor their pitching staffs. Of course, Pedro didn’t make his season debut until September 3rd and went on to pitch a whopping 28 innings in ‘07.

Escobar on the other hand is a different story. Despite his potential, I’ve never been a huge fan given his relatively long history of injuries. Before news broke that he wouldn’t be ready for the season opener, Escobar was most likely going to be overvalued in drafts due to last year’s career year. Projection systems like CHONE and ZiPS currently project Escobar to have 175 IP and 197 IP, respectively. But with his sore shoulder already becoming a problem, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Escobar finish with 160 IP or less.