Teheran to Debut on Saturday
May 6, 2011 at 4:01 pm by Kevin Orris under Atlanta Braves
Peter’s Reaction: WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I haven’t been this excited about a pitching prospect’s imminent debut since ever. I love the move. The Braves need every win they can get, especially against Philadelphia, and the opportunity to use their best pitching prospect for a spot start is a great luxury. It seems likely that Teheran will be sent back to the minors after his MLB debut. That’s fine, but maybe he’ll pitch well enough to force the Braves’ hand and keep him in the rotation. Probably not, he still has a few things to work on, but Teheran is a tremendously talented pitcher that I’ve greatly enjoyed watching ever since he made it to the full season leagues and I can’t wait for the rest of the fan base to see what I’ve seen over the last two years.
Ben’s Response: I cannot say I am not excited. I watched his last start against the SWB Yankees and was impressed as I always am when I see him pitch. After his appearance I still felt like his breaking ball needed work. The command of his fastball was tremendous, and I think of all the aspects of his game, that is what will surprise the Phillies, their fans, and even some Braves fans the most in tomorrow’s start.
I probably would have had Minor throw a few innings yesterday and pitch tomorrow or Sunday, but worse things have happened. The worst part about this, for me, is that I will be at a wedding tomorrow and will not be able to watch.
Kevin Orris’ Reaction: Although it was unexpected, it isn’t the most surprising news in the world to me that Julio Teheran has been called up to face the Phillies tomorrow. Once Mike Minor took the mound last night, it was evident that he was a no-go for Sunday and with Rodrigo Lopez still scheduled to throw in Gwinnett tonight, the only remaining choices were Teheran or Tommy Hanson/Tim Hudson on three day’s rest.
Considering the results of Derek Lowe’s recent start on three day’s rest and the lack of quality bullpen arms, it was apparent that a move was going to be made.
I’m not overly concerned about Teheran’s call-up, knowing that it’s just for a spot start. The Braves would like to prevent him from garnering too much service time at this point, so I don’t expect to see him up again until later in the season. It’s possible that he could be a member of the bullpen come August or September if the Braves fail to acquire a right handed threat outside of Craig Kimbrel.
Note: This is a segment that I did seconds after the Julio Teheran news came out on WSFN in Brunswick/St. Thomas and WFNS in Waycross/Blackshear this afternoon.
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I now have a boner. I’ll also have more up shortly.
DoB is reporting that Stephen Marek will require Tommy John surgery and Julio Teheran will be called up for a spot start on Saturday and make his ML debut against the Phillies.
Shut your face!
I can’t decide if I’m really excited or really worried he’s coming up too soon. I think I can be both.
The not-so-secret-weapon
Why is he starting Saturday? Isn’t that Jurrjens’ regular spot? I would’ve thought he would’ve started Sunday so no one had to go on short rest.
I would prefer his first start to be against the Pirates at home on a Tuesday. Instead, he’ll be on the road, in the most important series of the year so far, in front of what I am sure will be a polite Philly crowd. I’m pumped.
I’m a little surprised they didn’t skip Minor yesterday and have him make the start. Not sure what it says about the Braves’ opinion of Rodrigo Lopez, also. Or perhaps they didn’t make the decision until today, and/or Teheran is just the one whose schedule best fit a start on Saturday or Sunday.
JT is not on the 40-man, correct? So who’s off to make room for him.
Very excited to watch him pitch.
Not to sound like a downer, but bad news for the Braves bullpen today. Looks like Moylan may be out for the season and Marek is going to have Tommy John. With these injuries I could definitely see Tehran in the bullpen by the end of the season based on how Sherrill and Linebrink have pitched.
There are only 38 players on the 40-man roster and Kris Medlen is still on the 15-day DL. They’ve got space.
That is awful news about Moylo and Marek. Small bit of positivity is that I just checked the MiLB page and Braves have three of the top 5 in WHIP, ERA and K at the AAA level. Sure one of those is Rodrigo Lopez but the other two are Minor and Teheran. Wouldn’t mind seeing either doing a 2008-David Price impression this post season.
Also a point to consider is that it seems more likely than not that MLB will do away with super 2 by the time Teheran is arb eligible. I’d still play it safe if I were the braves with his service time, but it’s at least something to consider.
Eh, TINSTAAPP. With hitters it’s a bigger issue.
I just wish my fantasy league had a deeper roster to be able to hold onto him once he gets sent down.
Why? He might not be back until September. Holding on to players while they’re in the minors can lose leagues for you while the guy whose streaming crappy players on hot streaks wins.
Ben,
I witnessed his most recent start as well and came away with the exact same conclusion. I also felt he was not throwing enough breaking balls. I didn’t have the best view of the field, and I was going off of the stadium radar gun, and it just seemed like he was throwing way too many fastballs to guys like Montero.
CAC,
Right, which is why I won’t do that..I’m saying if the league was just slightly deeper, I could do it.
By the way, picking up Hosmer yesterday and Teheran has given me a huge hard on.
My league allows two adds per week. It also enables you to keep a player for free if he’s under 23.
So glad I picked up Mike Aviles and Jason Marquis earlier in the week. No way did I need Hosmer or Teheran for the next two seasons or anything.
/rage
Also, perhaps I should have explained my league’s setup a little better. It’s a H2H most categories keeper league that has an SP per week limit. The limit is low enough that you could potentially store a player if your roster is designed the right way. Of course it’s not the most intelligent thing to do. Unless something unexpectedly unfolds (3 cheers for alliteration), I will most likely be dropping Teheran after Saturday.
That’s unfortunate Luke M. Really tough format, and you could have never guessed either Hosmer or Teheran would be up in the first week of May.
Aww man, that sucks Luke M.
Teheran is starting on Saturday as that will give Jurjens an extra day of rest. It’s Julio’s normal day. No one is going on short rest. It makes sense as Jurjens has been injured.
I have to say. in the grand scale of things, making your debut against Kyle Kendrick – well, there could be worse baptisms.
Perfect scenario is Braves get on the board early, Teheran gets over his nerves and does what we think he’s capable of, and we all live happy ever after
It’s decisions like this that confirm our belief in the “smarts” of the organisation, given that they’ve had a rough week by anyone’s standards
And as for the fantasy opinions. I do have him rostered in one 20 team all keeper league, and yes, I will be starting him – I did part with Jay Bruce in the offseason so the return starts now
Yeah, figured that out once I got more info. JJ and either Hanson or Huddy will be going on an extra day’s rest, but no one will be going on short rest. And it makes the most sense to try to keep the young guy on schedule. Do as little to mess with his routine as possible.
If it turns out Beachy is really this good (and I don’t think it’s unreasonable — his stuff is better than he’s credited for) the Braves could be looking at a homegrown version of the Phillies pitching staff in a few years.
Hanson
Teheran
Jurrjens
Minor
Beachy
Delgado/Vizcaino
Scary.
Luke,
You forgot Meds there. Plus, JJ wasn’t homegrown (came via trade with DET), and will probably be gone before all these guys are up.
But, I’m definitely looking forward to our future rotation.
He didn’t forget Meds, he just knows that he’ll be in the bullpen. Medlen is only a starter on a need-be basis.
Speaking of Meds, what is anybody with an educated opinion’s best guess where he ends up? I’d love to see him make it as a starter based on his work last year, but it seems like he could end up in the pen or trade bait just based on Luke M’s afforementioned list.
Thanks Kevin.
@Kevin
That’s his current role, but are we already putting him in as just a long relief/spot starter guy? Because I thought he’s been better than that in his starting career before the injury.
It’s not that he’s a bad pitcher, it’s just his stamina isn’t that of the rest of the rotation. Either way, if even just a few of the pitching prospects pan out, the Braves will have a surplus of starting talent. In addition to those pitchers that Luke mentioned, there’s Brett Oberholtzer, J.J. Hoover, Carlos Perez, etc. that are all very highly regarded.
Yeah, I think people have a problem with putting Meds in that long relief role because it seems like a lot of times that’s the last guy to make the ‘pen, and he tends to come in for mop up duty when the team is down 5 runs.
The nice thing with Medlen in that role, though, will be that you can bring him into a game where the starter gets banged around and he should do a pretty good job of holding the opponent where they are and giving the offense a chance to come back. Or if the SP comes out because of injury, he keeps you in the game. Or you can bring him in with a big lead and not worry too much about him letting the opponent back into it.
Having a guy like Medlen in that role is really a luxury, because he could definitely start regularly for other teams. And he may get traded in the coming years because he holds more value to another team than he does for the Braves.
why the f–k is prado bunting?!?!??!?!??!?!?!
haha. I was saying the same thing Steve!! i
You can use Medlen as a high-leverage, multi-inning reliever, too.
Long relief doesn’t necessarily mean mop-up. He is the most versatile arm that the Braves have – he can pitch in high pressure situations, spot start, and also mop up if necessary. Think about it this way – with a guy like Medlen available right now, Fredi could go to him for two innings on a regular basis knowing that he could be nearly as effective as the back end of his pen and save them some innings. Venters and Kimbrel are still young and the last thing that we want is more injuries and wear and tear.
25/Brad H
I was counting JJ as home grown because it was a great trade and one the front office deserves credit for.
Though most of Jurrjens’ development took place before he was with Atlanta, identifying and acquiring an undervalued asset that is yet to make a meaningful impact in the majors falls under the wing of player development, so you can loosely call Jurrjens a home grown pitcher. It’s all just semantics. Just like a traditional home grown player, they got him for pennies on the dollar.
Since we’re on the subject, do you guys foresee Delgado or Vizcaino profiling better as a reliever? Clearly there’s not room for all of them in the rotation if they all pan out.
I know it’s a common assumption that JJ will be dealt in the next 18 months — which I’d be against — but even if not someone’s going to have to go to the bullpen among the remaining 7 or 8 studs we’d have left.
Vizcaino: bullpen. Delgado: rotation.
a future back end of Vizcaino, Venters, Kimbrel is absurd.
I kind of consider jurrjens homegrown like I do smoltz. Even though smoltz actually pitched in our minors he wasn’t drafted by us. Ironically they both came from detroit in steals too
I was just thinking that it would be absolutely awesome if Teheran faced Pineda this year in Seattle, I’d even be able to see it in person