A Few Tidbits
May 19, 2009 at 8:36 pm by Capitol Avenue Club under Atlanta Braves, NL East News, Pitching, Player Analysis, Slow Starts
Just a few tidbits of news.
The Braves have called up Kris Medlen and will place them on their active roster on Thursday to take Jo Jo Reyes’s spot in the rotation. Reyes will transition to the bullpen for now, and the Braves will make a decision regarding the pitching staff before Medlen is made active. Parr and Reyes are candidates to be optioned to AAA while Carlyle and Bennett are candidates to be DFA. I’m sure they would both clear waivers, but I have a feeling Parr will be headed to Gwinnett on Thursday morning. I think keeping Reyes with the big club in the bullpen where he can pitch in low-leverage situations is probably the best thing for his confidence. Glavine made a great point in an interview I heard the other day. He said when him and Smoltz were called up, the team was so bad that the only goal they had for them was to get better. Now, rookies are expected to jump in and immediately contribute towards a winning ballclub. Our patience would’ve worn thin with Glavine and Smoltz had they come up and played like they did when they first came up in 2008. Patience is key with young pitchers. And the organization knows that. Nobody is ready to give up on Reyes. Although it was clear that the rotation is not for him at this time, so replacing him was a good move.
Medlen’s call up will be short-lived. When Glavine is ready, he’ll be back on the roster and I assume Medlen will spend a few more weeks in Gwinnett to avoid Super 2 status down the road, a good decision for the club financially.
Speaking of Glavine, he threw in a simulated game today. Apparently all signs point toward him coming back. The next step will be a rehab start Saturday. He’s aiming for a return to the rotation by late May. I hope he comes back and throws well, but the odds of that are low.
It’s time to bench Francoeur. He’s not producing. He got benched the other day because he sucks, but until he starts being more selective and only swinging at pitches he can do something with, he’s just going to be a free out. No opposing pitcher fears facing Jeff Francoeur, and his lack of presence is dragging the club down. If I were Wren, I’d tell Francoeur he has 2 weeks to start producing, or his @$$ is gone.
That’s all I got. I’ll have more on Francoeur later. I won’t be doing a series thoughts/series preview this time. I’ll pick it up after the Rox series, group the NL West teams into 1 post in the thoughts portion, and do a preview for the Blue Jays series. Interleague play is almost here. Joy.
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Hmm. If they aren't going to keep Medlen up, why bring him up in the first place? Wouldn't it have made more sense to give Parr a few starts or bring up Morton? If Medlen pitches effectively in the majors, I'd rather see him go to the bullpen if Glavine ever returns with Bennett or Carlyle getting DFA'd.
I don't see what benching Francoeur will accomplish. It's not like he would be an effective pinch hitter. Francoeur on the bench would be a total waste of a roster spot (not all that different than he is now I admit). It's time for him to go back to the minors or start over for a different club.
I just don't want Medlen reaching super 2 status down the road, because that's a financial mess. Sending him down for 2 more weeks isn't going to cost the club a win and it could save the club millions of dollars down the road, which is the difference between a free agent or retaining an arb-eligible player. They're bringing him up because they feel like he can contribute more in the starting rotation right now than Parr or Morton could. Which is probably true. And their thinking is that he won't be able to contribute more than Glavine, which is probably not true. We'll see how it plays out. The only thing benching Francoeur does is gets him out of the line-up. But you're right, I'd rather see him off the team. I'm done with him.