Brayan Pena

Brayan Pena underwent surgery on his left knee on Tuesday. The Cardinals expect him to miss about a month.

Fantasy Impact

With inexperienced Eric Fryer as the backup until Pena's return, Yadier Molina should see a heavy dose of action in the early going. Molina has shown no ill effects lately of his offseason thumb surgeries, and should hold up well for the first month at least.

Cardinals backup catcher Brayan Pena is headed to the disabled list with a left knee injury. He will have surgery to remove a "loose body" from the knee and will likely be out longer than the minimum 15 days. He will be replaced on the Cardinals' roster by Eric Fryer.

Fantasy Impact

Pena probably was not relevant to many fantasy leagues other than two-catcher NL-only leagues. His injury could mean that the Cardinals lean a bit more heavily on Yadier Molina in the early part of the season, despite Molina's offseason surgeries on his thumb.

Brayan Pena signed a two-year, $5 million deal with the St. Louis Cardinals on Nov. 30, ending a two-year stint with the Reds.

Fantasy Impact

The Cardinals pick up a solid backup for Yadier Molina, as the 33-year old played in 108 games for the Reds last season, batting .273.

The Reds fell to 57-80 on the season following a 7-3 loss to the Pirates on Tuesday. Brayan Pena, batting out of the eight hole, had a solid game for the Reds. He went 2-for-4 and raised his batting average to .279 for the season.

Fantasy Impact

Pena is 5-for-12 this month and has done a solid job, getting on base at a .342 clip. The problem is that Pena has no home runs in 308 at-bats, contributing to a poor .328 slugging percentage.

The Reds struggled on Sunday at the plate, falling to the Brewers by the score of 4-1. Brayan Pena, hitting out of the seven spot in the lineup, went 1-for-4 with his 16th RBI of the season. He's now batting .274 for the season.

Fantasy Impact

Pena has done a decent job in terms of batting average and on-base percentage, but has only 13 doubles and no home runs in 296 at-bats. While he is a suitable backup, don't rely on Pena to provide significant fantasy value in most leagues.