With Gavin Floyd’s return to the rotation from Tommy John surgery, the Braves have decided to send Alex Wood to the bullpen, but only for a short-term stay.
Aaron Harang will start Sunday against the Cubs instead of Wood, and Wood will be available out of the pen but only until Wednesday. Then Wood will go back into the rotation when his turn comes around again on Saturday, May 17, in St. Louis.
As for what happens after that?
“We’ll see,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “That buys us eight days.”
The rest of the Braves rotation has been pitching well and there wasn’t a clear choice for the pen between veterans Ervin Santana and Aaron Harang, Mike Minor and Julio Teheran, who are more established than Wood. And the Braves want Floyd to stay on a regular routine during his comeback.
Wood was the logical odd man out given his relief experience, the need for another left-hander in the bullpen and given that the Braves could limit his innings over the course of the season by cutting down on his starts.
Wood was on pace to throw more than 200 innings, almost a 50-inning jump from his previous season-high of about 155 innings which he threw in 2012 between his redshirt sophomore season at the University of Georgia and his first professional action with Single-A Rome.
“They’re keeping an eye on me and also they need some help in the bullpen too right now, so it’s worked out for right now and that’s what best for the ball club,” Wood said. “That’s fine with me…As long as I’m a part of these guys and I get to have an impact up here, that’s all that really matters to me.”
The Braves could move Wood to the pen periodically to save his arm innings but without having to send him back to the minor leagues to stretch out again. Wood spent 2 ½ months in the bullpen last season and then needed a stint in the minors to stretch back out.
“That’s a tough task for anybody, so I think now hopefully I won’t go that long without getting back into the rotation at one point or the other,” Wood said. “Either way I’ve done it before and recently too, so I know what to expect and what I need to do to stay prepared and stay ready to jump back into it whenever they need me.”
Wood is a hard-luck 2-5 this season, with a 3.00 ERA through seven starts. The Braves are averaging only 1.6 runs while he’s in the game. He went 3-2 with a 3.54 ERA in 11 starts last season and 0-1 with a 2.08 ERA in 20 relief appearances.
“It’s nice to go to the bullpen and have had some experience now throwing out of it,” Wood said.
The Braves have been going short-handed in the pen for almost a week, since they optioned left-hander Ian Thomas to Triple-A Gwinnett to activate Floyd from the disabled list.
“A couple of times we got ourselves really close to putting somebody in jeopardy of getting hurt, (pitching in) three in a row, four in a row, or four out of five days,” Gonzalez said. “So putting Woody in there gives us a little breather, and also kind of gives him a little breather, a little break. And then we’re plugging him back in on Saturday. Then we’ll see where we are.”
