Daily Notes (8/14): 6 Man Rotation, Simmons Injury Progress
The Braves offense would get shut down off by the San Diego Padres and Eric Stults, wouldn’t it? People made a big deal about the offense last night and while yes, it is annoying to see Mike Minor have another great start and get nothing for it, and yes it is annoying to not score runs, I don’t think you should look too deeply into it.
Instead look at the positive of the game. Mike Minor continues to improve with every start and although he might have even been bailed out by his teammates some in this one (Prado….) he did a really good job. Six innings with three earned runs, 3 strike outs and a walk. At least he did better than Tommy Hanson right? Speaking of…
6 Man Rotation?
With Tommy Hanson coming off of the disabled list Friday a move had to be made regarding the starting rotation and Kris Medlen/Hanson. Most people figured that one or the other would go to the bullpen while the rotation would stay with 5 arms.
Apparently Fredi Gonzalez doesn’t like that notion and wants to “get into September with all cylinders hitting”. Basically he doesn’t want to injury anyone, so he is going to make them all pitch less. There are certainly merits with this idea but when you are trying to win a division title why on Earth would you put Tommy Hanson and his 4.29/4.63/4.39 Fangraphs line (ERA, FIP, xFIP) in the rotation?
Beats me, I thought it would have made a lot more sense to keep the rotation as Hudson/Sheets/Minor/Maholm/Medlen but I guess that’s why he’s the manager and that’s why I’m sitting at home eating cereal.
Andreltom Simmons injury progress
There’s nothing drastic to report here but I figured we should probably mention the kid, since I haven’t talked about him and I haven’t heard anyone else talking about him too much. It’s got to be that Paul Janish effect right?
Anyways Simmons appears to be recovering just like everyone thought, and they are planning to have him begin light throwing pretty soon. Simmons met with Dr. Gary Lourie two days ago and since we didn’t hear anything from that meeting, I’ll take it as a good sign.
Simmons said, “It’s still a bit sore. I have to stretch it out a bit still, but it feels great.”
I can’t wait to have Simba back in the lineup.