Fantasy Baseball Injury Report: Juan Soto's last-minute positive COVID-19 test disrupts Opening Day

COVID-19 is going to hover over the 2020 MLB season, and we got a stark reminder of that Thursday, as Nationals star Juan Soto tested positive just five hours before the first game of the season was set to take place. Soto will be placed on the IL ahead of the Nationals opener against the Yankees, and will now have to go through a league-mandated process to return to play that requires negative tests at least 24 hours apart and approval from MLB and player's association doctors. 

The good news is Soto is asymptomatic for now and hopefully will remain so. However, this is a reminder of the risks inherent in this season for MLB teams and Fantasy players. From the Nationals perspective, they are looking a situation where a player tested positive on Tuesday, and then spent two days around the team awaiting the results - thus increasing the potential for spread within the locker room. Hopefully, this will remain an isolated situation, but players who came into contact with Soto were tested Friday morning and likely won't know their results until Saturday so there will be concerns until then.

From a Fantasy perspective, this of course reminds us that this season is going to be defined by unpredictability and circumstances. With one statement from the manager, your lineup can change without warning, so prioritizing useful depth needs to take precedence ahead of stashing upside in many cases. That's not to say the likes of Dylan Carlson or Nate Pearson won't be worth stashing, since they'll like be up within the next two weeks. But you'll have to make your own decision on players with less obvious futures.

As for the specific loss of Soto, we unfortunately simply can't even speculate how long he might be out for. This is what separates this situation from typical injuries. Soto could remain asymptomatic and record a few negative tests in two or three weeks, a timetable many of the players who tested positive during summer camp follows. Or, it could be much longer than that. Either way, in a 60-game season, this figures to be a significant loss.

For a Nationals team that lost Anthony Rendon this offseason, this is a huge deal. The top of the order is still solid with Trea Turner and Adam Eaton, but it'll be Starlin Castro batting third and Howie Kendrick hitting cleanup, with Andrew Stevenson stepping into the starting nine to replace Soto in left field. Castro has some appeal after a solid second half in 2019, but Kendrick is a personal favorite of mine. He was one of the best hitters in baseball on a per-plate appearance basis in 2019, and with the DH, he could be a fixture. He might be a top-12 second baseman for Fantasy this season. 

And for those of you who lost Soto from you Fantasy roster, the first place you should look is Scott White's waiver-wire column, where he highlights 17 players to target.  However, if you want more specifics on outfielders to target, here are five rostered in 60% or fewer of CBS Fantasy leagues to consider:

In addition to Soto, there are still plenty of questions about who will be available to start the season, due to injuries or other reasons. Scott White compiled a list of all of the biggest question marks, categorizing them by their likelihood of returning by Opening Day. You can check that out below: