Fantasy Fare: Trout and Tommy John-lite

Mike Trout winces as he favours his injured left thumb following a slide into second last Sunday. He underwent surgery on it on Wednesday. (Lynne Sladky, AP)We don’t normally lead off this space with injury-related notes. But two items we ran across this past week with significant fantasy implications — one short-term, one long-term — have prompted this week’s detour.

— The first was a Boston Globe feature of a local 14-year-old pitcher who tore a ligament in his right elbow and was told he needed Tommy John surgery. But because of his age, the now commonplace procedure with a recovery time of 10-12 months was not an option. That’s when the kid’s parents discovered that Dr. Jeffrey Dugas at…