Pirates: Starling Marte Dealing with Back Injuries, Fantasy Fallout
The Pirates’ season was a bit of a disappointment. The latest piece of negative news is Starling Marte dealing with a back injury and could be done for the year.
The 2016 Pittsburgh Pirates were a bit of a letdown in the eyes of its fans and fantasy owners. Star outfielder Andrew McCutchen had his worst season of his career and the team is six games out of the Wild Card picture. To end this disappointing season, left fielder Starling Marte is dealing with a back injury. For his fantasy owners, this comes at a horrible time.
Injuries are nothing new to Marte. He has played over 135 games just once in his career, 153 games played last season. Though, in 129 games this season, he’s provided you with a good season. Not great, but good.
He has a .311/.362/.456 line with nine home runs, 46 RBI and 71 runs scored. He also has 47 steals on 59 attempts. From a fourth round pick, those aren’t the numbers you would expect, especially after the season he had in 2015.
More from Fantasy Baseball Crackerjacks
September hasn’t been good to Marte. He’s played in just seven games this month. He missed 16 games early in the month with back spasms, yet was never placed on the disabled list. Marte came in as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning of the Sept. 21 game.
He played the following day, but was removed from the game after three innings. Marte then missed another four games before returning on Sept. 27 as a pinch hitter. He is still dealing with the back injury and has been quoted, saying the tightness “comes and goes.”
There is no word on if the injury will continue to linger throughout the final week. With the Pirates all but eliminated from playoff contention, I don’t see why they would continue to play him.
The Pirates have rolled out a platoon of Sean Rodriguez, Adam Frazier and Matthew Joyce in left field over the last week. If you need a replacement from the Pittsburgh lineup, Rodriguez is your best option. He has multi-position eligibility, which helps in the final days of the season.
If you are a Marte owner, I would plan to be without him for the final weekend. He hasn’t played a full game since Sept. 5. Some of his fantasy owners already cut bait as he’s been dropped in 6.3 percent of ESPN leagues over the last week.
With the decline in his performance and lack of ability to stay healthy, I can’t see him behind a top-50 player next season.
This article originally appeared on 
