One of the key reasons I avoided Baron Davis in my draft this season was his propensity for getting hurt, something that proved prescient Friday. Forget about the fact that he was moving from the high-powered Warriors to the less potent Clipper attack – not to mention the trappings of LA life that were sure to distract him.

My main issue was trying to wrap my head around the astronomical odds that B-Diddy would be able to play all 82 games again like he somehow managed last season in his finest overall campaign.

During his first three seasons, Davis didn’t miss a game, but until last season, he hadn’t topped 67 games once since then.

So when news emerged that Davis left Friday’s game after hurting his left hip thanks to a hard fall, his owners everywhere must surely have been saying ‘oh crap…here we go again.”

He was able to leave the floor under his own power, but the injury is bad enough that he probably won’t fly to Denver Saturday for the game against the Nuggets.

We already had a Davis injury scare near the end of preseason when he partially tore a finger ligament, but he managed to avoid serious downtime with that one. It’s unclear how long this current injury will sideline Davis, but his replacement – Jason Hart – does not offer much solace as a possible waiver wire pickup. In fact, I wouldn’t bother picking him up, as even with starter minutes, I can’t see Hart doing anything fantasy worthy unless you’re in an extremely deep league.

If you need a replacement for Davis for next week, Delonte West is worth a look. He doesn’t score much, but for a guard, he’ll offer a little bit of everything, and he does qualify at PG. Plus, Cleveland plays four games next week.

Antonio Daniels is sure to be out there as well, and he’s a more attractive option in turnover leagues because of his ability to protect the pumpkin, but let’s face it – his upside is limited and the Wizards play just three games next week.

Another short-term option as a replacement for Davis is the starting PG for LA’s other team – Derek Fisher. He’ll score some points, drop a couple of dimes, shoot a good percentage, get you some treys and some steals. With the specter of Jordan Farmar stealing his time, there’s a decent chance Fisher is available, however you need to bear in mind that the Lakers have a two-game week coming up, so I’d explore other alternatives first.

The Arizona Cardinals’ nose tackle will miss off-season practices after undergoing surgery to repair a broken kneecap, an injury he suffered last week when he fell off a treadmill.

The procedure was serious enough that it will keep Watson limited during training camp, but the Cards are hopefully he’ll be ready to begin the regular season on time.

If not, look for backup Alan Branch, the team’s 2007 second round pick, to get his chance.

Some friendly advice to Mr. Watson: Gabe, you may want to read the instructions next time. This is not the intended use of this device.

The Cleveland Cavaliers can breathe a sigh of relief as LeBron James, out the past couple days of practice because of his wonky back, has been cleared to play Wednesday night.

This is great news for the Cavs, who are trying to wrap up home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs before a big game next week against Philadelphia, one of the teams still threatening Cleveland’s hold on fourth place.

A win tonight at home against the Nets will be just what the doctor ordered for the Cavs, losers of two straight and six of their past ten.

After Wednesday morning’s shootaround, Coach Brown declared King James fit for duty. James has been dealing with back issues for several weeks, and it’s obviously been bothered him more recently, especially Saturday against the Magic when he struggled through a 6-for-22, 17-point game.

The NBA’s leading scorer has enjoyed perhaps his best overall season, but he’s missed more time than usual despite the Cavs doing their best to lighten his load, reducing James’ PT for the second straight season.

Other than LBJ’s deteriorating perimeter game, there’s been little to quibble with from him this season.

Will it be enough for his first MVP Award?

Well, the major obstacle here is that while James has personally succeeded, constant injuries and major rotation changes have made for a rather disappointing season for Cleveland as a team.

The defending Eastern Conference Champions entered the season riding back-to-back 50-win seasons, but cannot exceed 47 this year even if they should run the table over their final five games.

Cleveland’s offense has been no worse than last year, but the club has struggled defensively as it tries to hold off a late-season rush by Washington for the fourth spot in the East.

Frantisek Kaberle, who stayed healthy enough to reach 80 games for the first time in his career this season, has finally succumbed to another injury.

He’ll undergo right shoulder surgery Wednesday, a procedure that will sideline the veteran defenseman for two-to-four weeks and force him out of next month’s World Hockey Championships.

Guess you can scratch the Czech’s name off your draft list for that event.

Kaberle had reconstructive surgery on this same shoulder prior to the 2006-07 season – an operation that caused him to miss most of the schedule. This procedure is minor in comparison, so he’ll be fine by training camp next fall.

Although he failed to bulge the twine for the first time in his career, Kaberle had been gaining a bit of steam down the stretch, picking up four assists in his final nine games, which included the season finale in which he was benched after playing just 3:44. All told, Kaberle had two of his three multi-point efforts in the season’s final month, making him a decent waiver wire pickup as the season waned.

Of course, that wasn’t enough to help Carolina avoid the dubious distinction of becoming the first team in NHL history to miss the playoffs two straight seasons after winning the Stanley Cup, as it did in 2006.

Injuries to key personnel (Matt Cullen, Justin Williams, Ray Whitney, Rod Brind’Amour, Patrick Eaves, Niclas Wallin) really hurt the Canes.

The team actually posted a four-point improvement over last year’s showing, but that might not be enough to save coach Peter Laviolette’s job.

Jack Wilson, coming off one of his most productive seasons, is hurt again.

A strained calf has landed the Buc’ shortstop on the 15-day DL, the third straight season he’ll miss action.

Despite missing about a month of action, he set personal bests in both homers and OBP last year, but was off to a slow start this season (1-for-12) before getting hurt Thursday. His DL stint was made retroactive to Friday, meaning he’ll be eligible to return on April 19.

In his stead, Luis Rivas, who hasn’t been valuable in quite a long time (okay, he’s never been valuable), could be worth a look. He’s been hitting up a storm, going 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI through the seventh inning of Monday’s home opener for the Pirates to raise his BA to .350.

Unfortunately, the natural second baseman is scuffling defensively, with two errors through six games.

As a result, look for Brian Bixler to get his chance by Wednesday. Called up from Triple-A to replace Wilson, Bixler is known for his defensive prowess at short, although he didn’t hit poorly at Triple-A last season (.274, five homers, 51 RBI) while showing great speed.

“We’re not calling him up to sit here. He’ll play,” says Pirates’ manager John Russell.

Bixler said he’d be okay backing up Freddy Sanchez at second base as well, but Pittsburgh only plans to employ Bixler at short.

So for the next two weeks, I’d suggest taking a look at Rivas as a decent short-term pickup, especially in NL-only leagues, but do note that if he continues to butcher things defensively, the Pirates will likely give Bixler more action at short.

Daniel “Boobie” Gibson was able to return to action Wednesday night after being forced out early Sunday with a left ankle sprain.

It’s great news for Gibson owners, who had to deal with the Cavs’ guard missing 18 games earlier this season with an injury to the same ankle.

Having said that, Gibson wasn’t exactly sharp tonight, sinking just 1-of-7 for two points in 19 minutes off the bench as Cleveland rallied from an early deficit to outgun the Bobcats 118-114 in Charlotte.

At this rate, starter Delonte West looks safe for the time being, and followed up his big game Sunday (18 points, 11 assists) with another solid all-around effort (10 points, seven assists, five rebounds, one steal, one block and one 3-pointer). Clearly, it’s going to take some time before Boobie is ready to take over the starting PG job, shifting West back to the two-guard spot.

The big winner here may be Devin Brown, who is not only starting and playing heavy minutes, but performing. Wednesday, he scored 20 points with eight assists, five rebounds and two steals. Hello? It may be time to give Brown some waiver wire love, people.

Ben Wallace (back spasms) has been cleared to play, but he missed his second straight game as coach Mike Brown decided to play it safe with his big man.

Of course, Big Ben hasn’t exactly been thriving since arriving in Cleveland, averaging just 4.9 PPG and 7.9 RPG, with numbers down almost across the board compared to what he was doing in Chicago.

In the meantime, Anderson Varejao continues to start, and judging by what he did tonight (17 points on 8-for-9 shooting with 12 rebounds), Sideshow Bob looks like a nice short-term pickup.

After severely tearing the muscle in the season’s opening game, the All-Star catcher will undergo a rare procedure next week, whereby the hamstring of a cadaver will be infused into Martinez’s leg. It’s an operation that has only been successfully performed a half a dozen times, but Dr. Richard Jones, of Sisters of Mercy Hospital in Cleveland, is confident Martinez will make a full recovery.

“He’ll be able to return to regular baseball activities within three months, but will likely never regain full speed,” Dr. Jones said.

Manager Eric Wedge, while visibly shaken by the news, tried to inject some humour into an awful beginning to a season in which the Indians were expected to contend for a World Series title.

“Full speed? Have you seen Vic run down the line?”

V-Mart’s injury opens the door for Kelly Shoppach, who now looks like a great bet to enjoy a breakout season.

Let’s hope for his owners’ sake, Sid the Kid lasts longer than the last time he returned.

After missing 21 games with an ankle injury, Crosby came back on March 4, but after just three games, he was sidelined again. He’s missed the last seven games since then.

This time, however, Crosby says he feels great – better than he did three-plus weeks ago.

In 49 games this year, Crosby has just 22 goals, 45 assists and 67 points, dream totals for most, but a disappointment after he averaged better than an assist per game and reached the 120-point plateau last season.

Crosby didn’t show rust in his last comeback, potting a pair of goals and a pair of assists in the three games, so if he can step right in and produce over these final five games, perhaps he can help salvage somewhat of a lost season.

His return will also provide a boost for owners of Crosby’s anticipated linemates, Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis. Dupuis, almost assuredly available in your league, could be a nice pickup for the final few games. Sure, he’s just an average player surrounded by superstars, but because he’s getting special teams time with all of the Penguins’ guns, he’s an intriguing option.

The Pens, based on their win last night, have already sewn up a playoff spot, but the Atlantic Division title is still on the line. Pittsburgh has won three of its past four – two of those wins coming over the second-place Devils (who have a game in hand) – to open up a four-point lead atop the Atlantic.

Pittsburgh needs to win its final five games to match last season’s point total, and that’s going to be a tall order considering it has a sub-.500 record against its division mates and besides the Isles tomorrow, has a home-and-home series against the Rangers next week.

It would appear that Dustin Moseley gets the first shot at filling Lackey’s vacant slot, but I certainly wouldn’t rule out the possibility of seeing top prospect Nick Adenhart moving into the role if Moseley fails to get the job done. For those that were critical of the Garland trade, it again illustrates the old adage that you can never have enough starting pitching.

It’s always a frustration for fantasy owners when trying to determine which Spring Training injuries mean something and which simply fall into the ‘I would have played if this game counted” category.

Consider the raft of injuries the New York Yankees are currently dealing with.

For starters, lefty Andy Pettitte was scratched from his start Wednesday after experiencing elbow discomfort following his last bullpen session. No biggie, right?

Well, that’s what everyone is saying. Manager Joe Girardi insists that Pettitte will take the hill again in five days and that this issue will in no way hurt the southpaw’s chances of being ready for the start of the season.

Pettitte also says he doesn’t believe it’s going to be problematic going forward, and even GM Brian Cashman weighed in, also saying he wasn’t concerned.

Okay, so that’s all cleared up. Just remember, Dandy Andy won’t have any HGH-induced advantages as he works to stay healthy this season.

Fortunately, Philip Hughes is looking fantastic and Chien-Ming Wang, who had been brutal so far, fared much better in his last start.

Left fielder Johnny Damon is also dealing with a minor woe, missing the past two games after fouling a ball of his toe on Monday and suffering a bruise. He might be back in action tomorrow. Damon’s been hitting very well this spring, batting .316.

Still in the outfield, Hideki Matsui has yet to actually see any action in the field as he works his way back from right knee surgery he underwent in November. He’s DHed three times this spring, but is expected to make his debut in left field “very soon,” according to Girardi. With just six at bats so far, I’d also like to see Matsui get his offense ready as well.

Shelley Duncan, who is vying for a bigger role with the team this year, was back in action this afternoon after fouling a ball off his shin Tuesday. If he had to miss some time, that would have been a tough break. He’s batting .421 and making a great case for expanded PT this season.

If the Texas Rangers are going to somehow avoid a ninth straight season finishing behind the top two teams in the American League West, they will need a major recovery from third baseman Hank Blalock.

Okay, no one is expecting Blalock to rival Alex Rodriguez as the best hot corner man in the game, but after two horrible, injury-riddled seasons, it’s time for Blalock to put his career back on track.

Unfortunately, he’s already experiencing some bumps in the road this spring. Soreness in his right shoulder earlier this week was expected to sideline him a day or two. That was only compounded by a car accident yesterday. It seems that Blalock’s car was read-ended – as he drove home from Chuck E. Cheese. Uh, yeah. The upshot was he experienced some whiplash, but said he’ll be alright.

We’ve heard that before.

But considering he is finally taking grounders in the field for the first time since May and is off to a good start at the plate (2-for-5 with a double), the Rangers have to pray that this is truly just a minor woe for a player they are hoping will compete for Comeback Player of the Year Honours.

“I’m excited to get back to where I belong as a player,” Blalock said, “For us to win, I need to have a big year.”

He’s bang on there. Let’s face it, Texas isn’t exactly flush with power threats the way it once was. In fact, Blalock is the only current Ranger who owns a 30-homer season on his resume, so if their projected clean-up hitter isn’t up for the task, it’s going to be another very long summer in Arlington (of course with early injury problems to “ace” Kevin Millwood and promising youngster Brandon McCarthy already causing concern, it may be a long summer either way).

So which Blalock will we get in 2008? The one who garnered MVP attention in 2004 when he smashed 32 dingers and drove in 110 runs, or the one who barely slugged .400 in 2006 and then missed most of last year after having a rib removed?

I think it’s reasonable to assume that Blalock will be capable of putting up an OPS slightly higher than 800. Don’t pay for much more than that.

Oh, and someone please tell him that Chuck E. Cheese is a dangerous place.

Will Carroll has been running a fascinating series over at Baseball Prospectus examining the health situations for each major league team.

He’s concluded that, after losing 951 man games and $20 million in salary to injuries in 2007, the Los Angeles Dodgers have the worst three-year health ranking in all of baseball. However, Carroll suggests that by bringing in trainer Stan Conte, the team is headed in the right direction.

Carroll writes:

Let’s face it, no matter who the trainer and physicians are, they can’t save guys like Darren Dreifort or Kevin Brown from the DL. The difference is that these days taking a calculated risk on someone like a Jason Schmidt or last year’s experiment with Randy Wolf can be entirely valid moves. These can be the type of gambles that Conte could make pay off, and the cheap Wolf-style signings are easier to make pay off above a club’s investment. The problem is that Schmidt is getting paid ace money while only offering a realistic hope that he comes back to league average.

Carroll writes that despite major injuries to Schmidt, Wolf and Jason Repko, the Dodgers actually improved last season to a middle of the pack ranking, but in looking at the last three years overall, no one is worse.

Among the Dodgers that Carroll lists as being injury risks this season are: Russell Martin, Rafael Furcal, Chad Billingsley, Andy LaRoche, Nomar Garciaparra and Schmidt.

The Dallas Stars with be without star defenseman Sergei Zubov for another three-to-four weeks after he underwent surgery to repair a foot fracture this week.

He’s already missed the past 18 games because of this injury and a groin problem, but he was hoping to start skating next week before this setback.

Worse yet, Dallas didn’t address the situation at the deadline. The team has been using essentially just six defensemen all year – three of them rookies – and they opted to stand pat. Fortunately, the Stars are about to get a huge boost now that Phillipe Boucher has been activated and is expected to return to action tomorrow night for the first time since undergoing shoulder surgery in early December.

Still, Dallas is desperately missing Zubov, who was having a Norris Trophy-type season with four goals, 31 assists and a +6 ranking in 46 games before going down in the middle of last month.

Now, he’s got a screw in his foot, and owners everywhere are just screwed.

All told, Zubov has already missed 21 games this season and he will wind up playing the lowest number of games he’s totaled since the strike-shortened 1994-95 season. Unbelievably, he is still third on the team in assists and fourth in overall scoring, reaching 30 assists for the 12th straight season – the longest active streak by any NHL defenseman.

Earlier this season, the 37-year-old became just the 15th defenseman in league history to reach 600 assists.

Despite missing Zubov, Dallas has been on a major roll lately, going 12-2 since January 29. This run has allowed them to build a six-point lead over second place Anaheim (who has one game in hand) in the Pacific Division. And now the Stars head home for a three-game stand that offers them a chance to widen their lead. They face a middling Chicago club, Nashville, who has played poorly on the road, and then Phoenix, an excellent road team, but one that has been spinning its wheels of late.

Zubov has already been dropped in many shallow leagues, and this news will surely see him dumped in plenty more. If you’re looking to take advantage of the situation, try picking up Boucher, who was struggling before his injury, but enjoyed a career year offensively in 2006-07; Stephane Robidas, who has already matched his career high with six goals in 66 games; or Matt Niskanen, who is enjoying a superb rookie campaign with six goals and a +17 ranking.