Fantasy Baseball: Which Injured Players Should You Draft and Stash?

Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Boston Red Sox

Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia continues to recover from off-season knee surgery and was expected to be out until mid-May. However, it appears as if Pedroia is ahead of that timeline as he is already taking batting practice with the team in spring training.

Pedroia is not the fantasy player he once was and had a down year in 2017. He played in only 105 games and batted .293 with a .392 slugging percentage, totaling 7 home runs, 62 RBIs, 46 runs scored and a weighted runs created (wRC+) of 102. We project him to put up similar numbers in 2018 -- an average of .289 and 8 dingers.

If this was a case of Pedroia being injured while still in his prime, he'd be going a lot higher than his current ADP of 416.65, which places him in the middle of the 34th round of a 12-team draft. But this is a Pedroia who is clearly fading offensively, so unless you're in a deeper or AL-only league, you're probably not drafting him this year.