Fantasy Baseball Injury Updates: Hader, Teel, and Miller Set to Miss Start of 2026

We went over some MLB injury news earlier this week, and already have enough to discuss in another injury-related article today.

Let's go over some more news, highlighting the real-world and fantasy baseball impacts of the injuries.

Fantasy baseball injury news can be found all season on FantasySP.

Hader to Open Year on IL

The biggest fantasy player who we will be discussing today is Houston relief pitcher Josh Hader.

He has left biceps tendonitis and will open the year on the injured list after a late start to his spring. There's no exact timetable on Hader's return, but hopefully he doesn't need to miss too much regular season time.

Hader is 31 years old and ended the 2025 season injured as well, so this is starting to get a bit concerning with the lefty. He got in 48 games last season, posting a 6-2 record and 28 saves. Hader had a 2.05 earned run average over 52 2/3 innings, while striking out 76 batters along the way.

Hader is a high-end fantasy reliever when healthy, but obviously missing the start of the season is going to knock him down a few pegs. Hader's average draft position is 98.74 right now, and that's been steadily dropping over the past few weeks as he dealt with this injury. It should continue to drop now that he's going to miss regular season time.

We'll see exactly where Hader's ADP falls to, but it could get to a point where the gamble could be worth it for fantasy owners. Sure, he won't be helpful early on, and is a risky pick, but if he returns after a few weeks and stays healthy the rest of the way, Hader could turn into a massive fantasy draft steal.

You have to make that call as you draft. I think there's situations that make sense to draft/roster Hader in, but it really comes down to each fantasy owner's opinions.

In the meantime, expect Bryan Abreu to serve as the Houston closer. His ADP is 165.88 right now, and while that might not rise a ton, it should go up a bit.

The 28-year-old righty has a career 2.65 ERA over seven seasons and 329 2/3 innings. He went 3-4 with a 2.28 ERA and seven saves in 70 games in 2025. Abreu struck out 105 batters over 71 innings.

He will be an option in all leagues early on, and then drop back to being a better deep-league asset when/if Hader returns. Abreu could be a massive draft steal, even if his ADP rises a bit, if Hader ends up missing a larger portion of the season, so that could be a late draft pick worth gambling with.

We'll track Hader's progress and keep you updated on when the best time to utilize each Houston reliever is.

In the real world, Hader's absence is definitely a blow for the Astros. The bullpen isn't nearly as formidable down a key pitcher, and that could lead to a couple extra losses, or blown leads, especially early in the season. We'll see if Hader can return in short order, but early on, it could be a struggle for Houston.

Teel Injured in WBC

Kyle Teel suffered a right hamstring strain in Team Italy's World Baseball Classic game against the United States on Tuesday. He could miss 4-6 weeks, putting his start to the MLB season on hold.

Teel's ADP is 221 right now, and that's likely to go down after the injury news now. Hopefully he can return after a month or so, and only miss a couple weeks of the regular season.

The 24-year-old catcher made his MLB debut in 2025, playing in 78 games. Teel had a .273 average and .375 on-base percentage. Among his 69 total hits, Teel had 11 doubles and eight home runs.

He was mostly a catcher or designated hitter last season, while also appearing in left field once. Chicago has a couple catching options, so while losing Teel hurts, it doesn't decimate them.

Edgar Quero is the projected starting catcher most days while Teel is out. Korey Lee is the projected bench option at catcher. Drew Romo and Michael Turner are a couple other options who are in camp with the White Sox.

When Teel is back, he should take back the catcher spot most days, which would shift Quero to designated hitter. The team could keep both guys in the lineup by utilizing the DH spot, so I'm not sure how much playing time Lee will get.

Lenyn Sosa is the projected DH in the meantime, so his playing time could dry up when Teel is ready. It might seem like a rather small injury, but it affects several players on the roster.

I was excited to see how Teel was going to fare in his second season, so this is a bummer for him at the start of the year. He'll open as a deep-league asset, but be a standard league option if he excels at the plate and plays enough.

Chicago isn't expected to be a high-end MLB team, but they could be sneaky good and maybe even fight for a wild card spot. They'll need to avoid injuries, so hopefully things heal with Teel quickly and not many others get injured.

Miller Still Dealing with Injury

Miller has been working back from left side oblique inflammation and was supposed to ramp things up on Wednesday a bit. He wasn't able to complete his bullpen session because of discomfort near that injury.

For now, he's still cleared to play catch and will try another bullpen session in a couple days. So for now, it doesn't appear to be a long-term injury, but he looks like he'll be opening the year on the injured list because of his late start to things this spring.

Down Logan Evans (to Tommy John surgery) already, the Seattle rotation is a bit battered to kick off 2026. They still have Bryan Woo, Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Emerson Hancock as projected starters, so they can slowly ramp Miller up.

Hancock is the one taking the place of Miller for now. Cooper Criswell is another big league option for that final rotation spot, but is projected to be the team's long reliever for now. Randy Dobnak, Blas Castano, Dane Dunning, Jonathan Diaz, Casey Lawrence and Gabe Mosser are some other rotation possibilities, so Seattle has options, but the talent drops off fast, so it can't afford too many more SP injuries.

Miller's ADP is 226.5 right now, and it could fall after his injury news. He'll open as a deep-league fantasy asset, but could become a standard league asset if he's pitching well upon his return.

Miller only got in 18 starts last season, and struggled to a 4-6 record and 5.68 ERA over 90 1/3 innings. He had a 2.94 ERA in 31 starts in 2024, so many are hoping he returns to that level of pitching.

His season is already off to a slow start, which will cool the talk of a bounceback season. Hopefully he's able to return fairly soon and doesn't miss a large chunk of the regular season.

Seattle can handle things in the meantime, but another injury or two could turn the starting rotation from a major strength to an area of need in a hurry. The Mariners are geared up to compete for the American League title, so these starting pitcher injuries early on are a hit to those aspirations.