Why You Need to Use All of Your Injured List Spots In Dynasty Leagues

No seriously.

Particularly in dynasty leagues, having a full quota of filled injured list slots is a decidedly under the radar, low risk (often zero risk), high reward way of building depth.

Even if your team is without injury, or you just have a few players on the injured list, making waiver claims for players to fill out your remaining injured list spots can be extremely beneficial down the road.

Really, the only type of dynasty team it doesn’t work for is a dynasty team beset by injuries and overflowing with injured players. Otherwise? Go pursue the strategy in your dynasty leagues.

There’s a fairly decent chance that if a player has a long-term injury and isn’t a surefire, borderline impact (or better) fantasy player, that said player is currently available. If that’s the case, other teams probably aren’t lining up to claim them.

At worst, claiming said player is a zero FAAB type of situation and you waive the player when you need the IL spot.

But maybe some other team is interested in said player at some point in a trade down the line. Maybe they can be an extra player added to a larger deal/offer to push it over the line.

Maybe they end up being a long-term contributor once they're back from the injured list. Maybe their return from injury happens to coincide with a future injury and you’re able to replenish your depth without making any moves.

Really, there’s zero risk.

Even now, while teams around the league’s injured list placements have been solely 60-day injured placements so far, there are a number of potential quality (future) fantasy contributors out there.

The list isn’t as plentiful as last year when there were a lot of injured pitchers (though many likely weren’t available via waivers in dynasty formats) in Shane McClanahan, Brandon Woodruff, Sandy Alcantara, Drew Rasmussen and others. Joe Musgrove and Gerrit Cole are the top pitchers who miss significant time this year, but both have yet to be placed on the injured list and aren’t in danger of being dropped in any leagues.

Still, there are plenty of players to consider. They include:

(Ranked in order of highest future upside)