While Braves players and fans anxiously awaited an update Monday on injured pitcher Kris Medlen, the team’s top brass began to explore possibilities to reinforce a starting rotation that’s a lot shakier than it was just a few days ago.
One previously unlikely option that became more of a possibility Monday was still-unsigned free agent Ervin Santana, who was reportedly weighing offers from the Orioles and Blue Jays. At some point before or after starting pitcher Brandon Beachy left Monday’s game against Philadelphia with what he described as biceps tightness, the Braves contacted Santana, a person familiar with the situation said. It’s unclear if they discussed an offer or just the possibility of making one.
Medlen left Sunday’s game against the Mets in the fourth inning with what was initially diagnosed as a right forearm strain, but was feared to possibly be another elbow injury. He had Tommy John surgery in 2010.
The Braves announced late Monday that Medlen will be evaluated today after having an MRI on Monday with a team specialist in Orlando.
Without Medlen, the Braves could begin the season with a five-man rotation that made a total of 51 major league starts in 2013, with 30 of those by 23-year-old Julio Teheran. Left-hander Mike Minor hasn’t faced hitters yet this spring and might start the season on the 15-day disabled list while he continues to catch up with the other starters.
Minor couldn’t work out in January following Dec. 31 urinary-tract surgery and was shut down for a week after developing shoulder soreness in the first few days of camp when he tried ramping up his activities.
If Medlen, the pitcher with the second-best major league ERA in 250 or more innings pitched since the 2012 All-Star break (behind Clayton Kershaw) is out, the Braves could open the season with a rotation that includes: Teheran; Beachy (five starts last season coming off Tommy John surgery before being shut down again to have a bone chip removed); 37-year-old Freddy Garcia (six major league games including three starts last season); Alex Wood (11 starts as a rookie); and rookie David Hale (two starts in a September call-up).
Trading for a quality starter is difficult at this time of the year, since contenders won’t trade a top-of-rotation pitcher so close to opening day, and non-contenders would only consider trading such a pitcher if they got a lot of top young, talented players or prospects in return.
The Braves’ payroll is already close to what’s believed to be their approximate $100 million limit and they wanted to set aside their remaining available funds to fill a potential need that might come up during the season. But if Medlen is out and Beachy is questionable, the need to add another starter would more become glaring and they might be willing to give up the compensatory draft pick it would cost them if they were able to sign Santana.
Santana reportedly had offers worth at least $13 million and $14 million from the Orioles and Blue Jays and actually preferred a one-year deal so that he could re-established his value before hitting free agency again next winter. He had a 3.24 ERA and 161 strikeouts in 211 innings last season for the Royals.
As for potential trade options, the Braves have in-house options that are far cheaper and arguably better than what’s available.
This is a situation they could not imagine themselves being in after they had let Tim Hudson leave as a free agent and signed veteran Gavin Floyd, who’s coming off Tommy John surgery and should be back as soon as May.
“You feel like you have enough (pitching) and the next thing you know, something happens and it screws up everything,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said before Monday’s game, describing how the Braves considered last winter having five pitchers from the organization in the opening-day rotation. “Medlen was the oldest of our homegrown guys. We were counting on five homegrown starters this winter. You had Medlen, Minor, Beachy, Teheran and Wood, alright?”
Now?
“Medlen, you don’t know about. Mikey is coming along but he might be a little bit later. And Beachy is coming out of Tommy John from last year. That quickly, we went from five homegrown starters to, we’re going to have to piece it together a little bit.”
A couple of hours after he said that, Beachy came out of the game in discomfort.
