MLB Opening Day is less than a week away, but as teams are closing up their camps, certain stars won't be available right away when the games count. Here are five MLB stars whose teams will have to survive the early part of the season without them.
Anthony Rendon, 2B/3B Washington Nationals
Rendon was an MVP candidate last year who carried the Nationals offense when Bryce Harper struggled early on and missed a lot of time due to injury. Rendon hit 21 home runs, piled up 83 RBI, and scored 111 runs. He also was worth 9.2 runs defensively.
He hurt his knee on March 9, spraining his MCL. He has been trying to play through it this spring, but has seen multiple specialists and for now is expected to miss two-to-three weeks. That's bad news for the Nats, who have a lot of slack to pick up.
Kenley Jansen, RP Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles is going to be one of the preseason favorites to win the World Series, and while they boast an incredible pitching staff and a loaded lineup, their bullpen is a little shaky. That's because they rely heavily on closer Kenley Jansen, who just had a walking boot removed that he'd been wearing since mid-February.
Jansen is a prolific strikeout artist whose 2.76 ERA was uncharacteristic and also unlucky. The Dodgers plan on closing by committee for now, but they'll sorely miss their ninth-inning ace.
Justin Verlander, SP Detroit Tigers
Maybe Verlander isn't at the level in which he was winning Cy Young and MVP awards in the same year, but he's still very valuable. Verlander's been a workhorse for Detroit; he's thrown more than 200 innings in each of the past eight seasons, and topped 215 innings in five of them.
Last season his FIP was a good deal lower than his bloated 4.54 ERA, and despite the drop in performance he still struck out a good number of hitters (159). Verlander's velocity is still there, and having Jose Iglesias at short should help turn Verlander's fortunes.
That's if his triceps injury doesn't linger of couse.
Josh Hamilton, OF Los Angeles Angels
Hamilton's been in the news because of his relapse and to-be-determined suspension, but it gets lost in the shuffle that he was expected to miss the first month of the year anyway while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.
Hamilton's production has plummeted since joining the Angels in 2013, but he remains a left-handed power threat and was bizarrely effective against southpaw pitching despite being left-handed himself. The Angels will lean on Matt Joyce to replace him, but he's proven to be little more at the MLB level than a platoon corner outfielder. Also, Hamilton's prohibitive salary makes it difficult for the Angels to sign other players to make up the difference elsewhere.
Alex Cobb, Matt Moore, Drew Smyly, SPs Tampa Bay Rays
Cheated a little here, but missing three fifths of a starting rotation, plus the closer (Jake McGee) before Opening Day is brutal. The Rays don't have much of an offense, but this team was built to thrive on the strength of its young arms. Now, those arms won't be there for a while, and it is likely to be enough to sink their postseason hopes from the get-go.
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