Well another season and another nagging injury for Evan Longoria. This time it’s plantar factitious that has felled 
the power hitting third baseman of the Tampa Bay Rays. If you drafted Longoria you probably had a back up plan in mind all along, but if you didn’t don’t go looking for any rusty knives just yet, I promise we can get through this.
Where do we start?
First let’s look at our own bench.
Do we have any guys that picked up 3B eligibility while we weren’t looking?
Edwin Encarnacion recently became 3B eligible in Yahoo leagues and you may have never noticed. If so lucky you, plug him in over there and quickly go grab Adam Lind or Eric Hosmer and you’re set for a few weeks.
How about Matt Carpenter? Has he been scoring you runs at 2B and keeping guys that are starting to heat up on the bench? Well slide him over to 3B and plug in the rejuvenated Rickie Weeks and roll with it for a while.
If you’re like me and traded away your insurance policy already, then we are going to need to look at the waiver wire.
1) Anthony Rendon- The kid has played like top draft pick he is after his second call up to the bigs and is still only owned in 37% of Yahoo Leagues. His 2B eligibility may pay dividends down the line as you can move him around your infield.
2) Jose Iglesias- For a player that was supposed to be all glove and no bat he sure as hell looks to be the real deal. His hits aren’t exactly laser show quality, but you can get a nice batting average bump while he’s hot. It won’t last forever, but it may help for a few weeks.
3) Chris Johnson- Another guy that will really only help with one category as he is still hitting over .320. His power numbers won’t help much, but if the Braves lineup starts hitting a little more he could get a nice bump.
4-5) Trevor Plouffe and Mike Moustakas- Plouffe and Moustakas were late round guys that were looking to take the next step towards big time major leaguer this year. Plouffe has been injured and has been in and out of the line-up, but when he has been available he looks to have a lot of fantasy upside. His swing has a lot of power potential and if the middle of the Twins lineup continues to hit he could pick up nice RBI numbers. Moustakas has been a head ache most of the year and has only recently looked to be making strides. His average has creeped up above the .210 mark and he has been driving the ball better. He finally homered yesterday after not doing so in forever. His runs and RBI’s have been missing though because of the struggles of everyone else in the Royals line-up. He could have a huge second half and be a nice utility player for you when Longoria recovers.
6) Some names coming off the DL soon that could be nice backups to Longoria the rest of the year are Jedd Gyorko and Brett Lawrie. Gyorko has shown he is major league ready before injuring his groin and is valuable with his 2B-3B eligibility. Lawrie has been injury plagued as well as ineffective to start the year, and some confidence in the minors may be just what the doctor ordered.
For deeper leagues I would look to Alberto Callaspo and Matt Dominguez to fill in for a short time. Maybe even Lonnie Chisenhall if he gets the AB’s.
