News or Noise? What you might have missed this week in fantasy baseball

Tristan H. Cockcroft

Jan 31, 2025, 01:11 PM ET

It's January and the fantasy baseball offseason is, pardon the pun, in full swing. Right now, most sports fans are devoting the majority of their attention to the NFL, NBA and NHL, where the games (both real and fantasy) take center stage -- and understandably so.

Perhaps you're hearing about the latest baseball buzz only in passing, if at all. That's perfectly fine. We're paying attention to what's going on and are here to let you know about the top stories of the past week. Are they something you need to file away for draft day or are they likely to have little impact when all is said and done?

Read on and find out whether these breaking developments are truly news or if they're just noise.

Ronald Acuña Jr. expected to miss first month of season

Acuña, who underwent an ACL reconstruction on his left knee last June 5, was always in jeopardy of being limited at the onset of the 2025 season. But after he recovered from a July 2021 right ACL surgery in only nine months and eight days, fantasy managers understandably were holding out hope that he could be ready by Opening Day. While some athletes have been able to return from this kind of surgery in as little as six months, often the recovery period is nine to twelve months, with numerous examples requiring as much as a full season's time following recovery for a player to recapture their previous form.

In the case of Acuña, who derives a good share of his fantasy value from his legs, in 2022, he posted his career-worst stolen-base success rate (72.5%) and saw his Statcast sprint speed dip dramatically. That was the last time he underwent a similar surgery. It serves as a reminder that, while he has averaged .289/.379/.525, 35 HRs, 88 RBIs, 41 SBs and 123 runs scored per 162 games while on the Atlanta Braves' active roster for his career, Acuña isn't currently near to being the first-round fantasy talent he was a year ago at this time.

Fantasy managers haven't seemed to heed this injury update, however, as in four National Fantasy Baseball Championship (NFBC) drafts since the news broke last Friday, Acuña has been selected between 23rd and 29th overall, right in line with the No. 25 overall ADP he had in the nearly 400 offseason drafts held previously.

Fantasy impact: News

Paul Skenes focusing on a more aggressive approach on the mound

Appearing on The Athletic's "Foul Territory" last weekend, Skenes said that getting ahead early in the count is a primary goal for him entering 2025. The 22-year-old right-hander just became the first rookie in history to make 20-plus starts with both a sub-2.00 ERA and sub-1.00 WHIP, and that success has earned him the earliest current ADP in NFBC leagues by any starting pitcher not named Shohei Ohtani.

Skenes identified his 66.1% overall and 62.0% first-pitch strike rates, as well as his 63.7% rate of strikes in the count's first three pitches, as areas of prospective improvement. He identified these as areas in which 2024 Cy Young Award winners Chris Sale and Tarik Skubal produced considerably stronger numbers.

While Skenes' desire to continually improve all facets of his game, and embrace analytics, are excellent signs as he attempts to return value on his lofty early rankings and ADP, we're at a time of year where fantasy managers often grasp tightly to any nugget of information that could signal a looming breakthrough. Skenes' valuation is already sky-high, and one should expect a budding fantasy ace such as him would be seeking areas of growth.

Yes, it might still be January, at least for one more day, but this certainly feels like the usual "best shape of my life" shtick that seems to be commonplace once the calendar page turns to February.

Fantasy impact: Mostly noise

Brandon Nimmo still dealing with plantar fasciitis

News of Nimmo's plantar fasciitis surfaced during the NLCS matchup between the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers, after the outfielder made early exits from both of the first two games, probably in part for injury maintenance. The fact that Nimmo, who also exited Game 5 of that series early, is still dealing with discomfort in his left foot raises concerns with spring training approaching.

Plantar fasciitis can be a nagging, debilitating injury. Nimmo's issues with it could partly explain the Mets' decision to bring in a more defensively minded center fielder in Jose Siri, as well as re-signing Jesse Winker, to help ease the need to try Nimmo in center field or force him into early everyday duty in left field. That's not to signal a rush to panic, but Nimmo now belongs on every fantasy manager's spring training "watch list" to see how the injury progresses.