Pitching surplus gives Braves trade bait

Lake Buena Vista, Fla. — A surplus of pitching is starting to bubble up in Braves camp.

Javier Vazquez and Jorge Campillo are back from the World Baseball Classic, and Tom Glavine pitched his first spring training game Saturday. Their arrivals mean Jo-Jo Reyes was pitching on the backfields in a minor-league game Saturday, as prospect Tommy Hanson will on Tuesday.

With less than two weeks to go in spring training, the Braves have some pieces to trade if they choose. An obvious place to find them would be in the bullpen, where Campillo, who pitched three innings Saturday, Buddy Carlyle and Jeff Bennett could each fill the long relief/spot starter role.

Position players the Braves could move include Josh Anderson, who is out of options, if he gets beat out for the center field job by Jordan Schafer, or Martin Prado, who could be an everyday second baseman for another team.

“I think there will be interest,” Braves general manager Frank Wren said Saturday. “But at the same time, we’ve worked hard to build a surplus, and to maintain it is just as important. Unless there’s a deal out there that really works well for us in terms of adding depth at another position, we’re not going to just be looking to make deals because guys have interest in our players. If we do make deals, we’re really focused on guys that can give us depth in another area.”

One area might be third base, where the Braves don’t have an obvious successor to Chipper Jones.

Medlen’s a quick study

Kris Medlen threw a scoreless inning Saturday, getting his first work in more than a week, having recovered from a flu bug. Now the 23-year-old can focus on making a push at making the bullpen.

Medlen, the Braves’ No. 9 prospect according to Baseball America, might have the best shot to make the roster of all the young prospects in camp.

“Oh yeah, always,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said when asked if he thought Medlen threw well Saturday. “Good little pitcher, boy, really good. I like him a lot. He comes right at you, with everything.”

Medlen is a quick worker, something which is great for his infielders but sometimes not for his delivery. One reason the Braves moved him to a starting role last year in Class AA Mississippi was to see if it would slow him down.

“If helped me out, slowing down, and it helped me learn how to pitch a little bit more,” Medlen said. “Instead of throwing two pitches in an inning, you try to use all your pitches, try to make adjustments.”

He threw mainly his fastball and curveball as a reliever but mixed in more change-ups as a starter. He went 1-3 with a 4.70 ERA as a reliever and 6-5 with a 3.11 ERA as a starter.

Etc.

Jeff Francoeur went 2-for-3 with the big hit of the game in a 12-1 victory over the Mets on Saturday. He cleared the bases with a double off John Maine over left fielder Daniel Murphy’s head. It was a good sign for Francoeur, who hit only .182 (6-for-33) with the bases loaded last season. Francoeur called it his best day of the spring, adding that he’s starting to feel more comfortable in his new stance and able to make adjustments on the fly. … Chipper Jones has had back-to-back good rounds of batting practice and hopes to get back in the lineup on Tuesday night from his mild oblique strain. … Reyes struck out six in 4 1/3 innings scoreless innings of a minor-league game against the Nationals. He allowed only two hits and a walk. Hanson will pitch in a minor-league game on Tuesday. Vazquez, who pitched for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, takes his turn for the Braves on Tuesday.