The primary objective of pro sports franchises is to monetize every millimeter of a stadium and every breathing aspect of a team. We’re not yet at the point of seeing sponsors slapped on the backs of uniforms. But if baseball should go in that direction, the Braves have a viable option to the cinematic creation of “Chico’s Bail Bonds.”
This team belongs to Dr. James Andrews and his House of Ligaments.
Reliever Jonny Venters had his second elbow surgery Thursday. Eric O’Flaherty had his Tuesday. That makes seven Tommy John surgeries for the Braves’ pitching staff in the past five years alone.
In Las Vegas, you examine the line of showgirls and try to find the one who hasn’t benefited from surgical enhancement. In Atlanta, you examine the line of pitchers and try to find the one with a real ulnar collateral ligament.
Which leads us to a veteran member of the Tommy John surgery alumni club: Tim Hudson. The Braves have needed more from him. Actually, they need more from all of their starters, given the number of exploding limbs in the bullpen, but especially from Hudson. He went into Tuesday’s start against a Minnesota with a balloon-ish ERA of 5.12 and in his previous two starts allowed 11 runs and 16 hits in 8 2/3 innings.
Hudson lasted only five innings Tuesday night. But on this night it seemed like eight. He showed his toughness, returning to pitch following a one-hour, 16-minute rain and power-outage delay in the third inning and then handed over a 3-2 lead to the mangled bullpen in the sixth.
The bullpen blew it (not stunning, given the circumstances). But Evan Gattis tied it with a two-out, pinch hit homer in the ninth and Freddie Freeman won it with a two-out RBI single in the 10th. After the 5-4 win, the blown lead was forgotten and Hudson was remembered. In normal bullpen circumstances, it seems doubtful manager Fredi Gonzalez would’ve let Hudson continue after such a long delay.
“It was close,” Gonzalez said later. “…If it’s a young guy, you might think differently. With a guy like Huddy you feel good about it.”
Hudson said being taken out of the game “wasn’t an option.” He felt good and he understood the desperate situation the team is in.
“It’s not like a young prospect they’re trying to protect,” he said.
“If the delay had gone another 20 minutes, it might’ve been too long. But being in the position we’re in with our bullpen, I didn’t want to put them in a situation where they would’ve had to pitch six or seven innings, especially with a day game [on Wednesday].”
Notwithstanding Hudson’s impressive five innings, the Braves really need their starters to go at least six or seven innings now. We saw why in the eighth inning. After the team got two strong innings by Anthony Vavaro, Minnesota slapped around Luis Avilan and Cory Gearrin for two runs to take a 4-3 lead. (After Gattis’s tying homer, Gonzalez opted to bring closer Craig Kimbrel into a tie game in the 10th. Had the Braves not scored in the 10th, it would’ve been interesting to see where he went next, especially with the bullpen spent and a day game coming up.)
Hudson needed this. He has had some strong starts this season, but his overall body of work hasn’t been great, especially if we’re measuring the starters by game longevity. Including Tuesday, his average length of start through 10 games is just 5.6 innings. That ranks a distant fifth behind Mike Minor (6.5), Kris Medlen (6.3), Julio Teheran (6.2) and Paul Maholm (6.0).
He has gone six-plus innings in only five of his 10 starts. (Minor has been the best at eight of nine).
Medlen, alluding to the injuries and increased pressure on starters, said before the game, “You always want to go as deep as you can, but it’s even more important now. No disrespect to anybody who’s back there, but we’ve lost some pretty big arms. And I know from experience, there’s a learning curve (for pitchers promoted from the minors). For us to be in first place and have guys back there who haven’t been in the line of fire, it’s going to be different.”
Hudson is 37. He owns the oldest surgically repaired arm on the team. Seven current Braves’ pitchers have had a total of eight elbow-ligament surgeries: Venters (two), O’Flaherty, Hudson, Medlen, Maholm, Brandon Beachy and Martinez. (Former Braves’ prospect Arodys Vizcaino also had surgery before being traded to Chicago in July.)
That’s a lot of fake ligaments. Some of them ultimately will determine a pennant race. That starts with Hudson.
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