Around lunchtime on Tuesday, a report surfaced that Tampa Bay third baseman Longoria would miss six to eight weeks with a partial hamstring tear, a seemingly crippling blow to the Rays' chances of making the American League playoffs this year.
Then around 1 p.m. EST, the Rays' Web site published a dissimilar account of Longoria's progress, saying he had incurred a "hamstring-knee thing" (the words of GM Andrew Friedman) but would not be headed for the disabled list.
Fast forward to 6:06 p.m., just minutes after I had published the original version of this story, the Rays finally made it official: Longoria (four HRs, 19 RBI, 15 runs, two steals, .329 batting) will indeed miss four to eight weeks with a hamstring tear.
Even with the final prognosis, I'm still recommending that fantasy owners make a sincere, aggressive trade play for Longo—before the weekend—in the form of a two-tiered, scenario-based proposal (like the one below).
Think of it as your own live-action Choose Your Own Adventure for the fantasy realm...where GMs must hazard an educated guess on Longoria's specific return date.
Scenario A—Longoria to miss 3-5 weeks
1-for-1: Joe Mauer, David Freese, C.J. Wilson or Ian Kennedy
1-for-2: Longo for Mike Moustakas/Chad Billingsley or Edwin Encarnacion/Mike Minor
2-for-2: Longo/James Shields for Alex Rodriguez/Mat Latos or Jose Bautista/Drew Smyly
Scenario B—Longoria out for 6-8 weeks
1-for-1: Chris Davis, Chris Young, Neftali Feliz or Lance Lynn
1-for-2: Longo for Adam LaRoche/Johan Santana or Mark Trumbo/Tom Milone
2-for-2: Longo/Jordan Zimmermann for Chase Headley/Josh Johnson or Eric Hosmer/Jon Niese
Jay Clemons can be reached on Twitter, day or night, at @ATL_JayClemons.
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