Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart Are Early Spring Concerns: A Fantasy Baseball Fan’s Take

Another day brought another round of bad news for the Milwaukee Brewers. This time it came in the form of the fragile duo of Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart who are already dinged up less than a week into spring training.

Rickie Weeks

Already hampered with ankle issues which he suffered last season, Rickie Weeks is now dealing with right shoulder weakness.

With speculation that Weeks may assume the clean-up spot in the Milwaukee Brewers line-up, this news is less than stellar for a team dealing with the free agency loss of Prince Fielder. Any inflation of his value should be looked upon with great cynicism given Weeks track record on health. After all, he has only played more than 129 games once in his career thanks to a never ending list of injuries and ailments.

Week played 160 games in 2010.

Combine his inability to stay healthy along with his career .255 batting average, this latest news doesn't bode well in anticipation of a big year for the Milwaukee second baseman.

Corey Hart

Meanwhile, the news for Corey Hart is a little more definitive and grim. It was announced by the team that the Brewers outfielder will miss approximately a month due to arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.

What's most distressing about the news pertains to Hart's speed or, perhaps, his diminishing amount of speed. In 2007 and 2008, Hart was a legitimate 20-20 ballplayer. Since the start of the 2009 season he has accumulated 25 stolen bases in 390 games played. Given he will be 30-years old to start the season, it's unlikely he will ever be a significant base stealing threat again.

Drafting Weeks and Hart

Regardless of the prognosis of each, this news further pushes the pair down on my draft worksheet. Both players have significant talent when healthy but given their history of injuries and their spring training news, it's tough to advocate for either Weeks or Hart.

The one benefactor to all this may be Aramis Ramirez, particularly if Weeks stumbles. It stikes me as being odd Ramirez isn't a lock for the clean-up spot behind Ryan Braun, but these further developments give him a legitimate shot at claiming the 4^th spot.

Both Weeks and Hart are loaded with potential, but draft strictly at your own risk.

Sources: Yahoo! Sports

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Robert Watkins is a twenty year fantasy baseball veteran who is a frequent contributor to Yahoo! Sports and News.

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