The Atlanta Braves headed into the 2015 Spring Training season with a rotation almost set. Julio Teheran, Alex Wood, Mike Minor and newly acquired starting pitcher Shelby Miller were a solid foursome. The final spot was to be fought to the death between a few youngsters, a former relief pitcher and veteran picks up.
Minor was the first to fall as he suffered some soreness in his shoulder causing him to miss most of Spring Training and will probably miss at least the first month of the regular season. This put the Braves in a position they didn’t want to be in – now they have to look for two starting pitchers instead of just one.
More from Braves Rumors
- Can the Atlanta Braves still afford Dansby Swanson?
- Atlanta Braves: Filling left field with controllable trade options
- Braves Rumors: Could The Braves Trade Max Fried?
- Braves rumors: Add the Cardinals to the growing list of teams interested in Dansby Swanson
- Braves rumors: Atlanta Braves Considered Front Runners for Sean Murphy
Then, the pitchers attempting to win a job in the rotation didn’t have the best outings when given the possibility.
Veteran pitcher Wandy Rodriguez was told about a week ago that he will be given one of the starting rotation spots. This left Eric Stults, Cody Martin and Mike Foltynewicz left for the last spot. Martin has impressed but like a few other players in the Braves organization, it sounds like they don’t have faith in him as a starting pitcher. Foltynewicz hasn’t impressed this spring as he has a 6.35 ERA, 2.47 WHIP, a .377 batting average against and has given up three homers and eight walks.
That leaves Stults for the last spot, he’s posted a 1.89 ERA this spring….but…MLB.com and Braves beat writer, Mark Bowman, notes that the Braves do not want to put two lefties back-to-back in the bottom of the rotation.
Thursday afternoon, news broke from Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that the Braves may be interested in Arizona’s right-hander Trevor Cahill and a trade is possible.
The 27-year-old is slotted in the D-Backs rotation for the 2015 season but with top prospect Archie Bradley ready to be in the MLB rotation, they could be all right to trade Cahill.
Cahill’s contract could be the issue for both teams though…
If #Braves got Cahill, Dbacks would have to either pay large portion of $12M he's owed in '15 or take a bad contract from ATL.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) April 2, 2015
Insert a name, any name…
A few “Could’s” to think about here…
-Could this be a trade that involves more than a pitcher?
-Could Arizona and Atlanta make another blockbuster trade like in 2013?
-Could Braves be looking for an outfielder as well? Mark Trumbo, Cody Ross and/or David Peralta? D-Backs look stacked in that area
-Could the Braves have received an update on Mike Minor? His timeline to return got worse?
-Could the Braves be worried about Josh Outman‘s shoulder and the bullpen? This could move Martin to bullpen
-Could Atlanta be looking to improve their roster or is this another rebuilding tactic?
-Could Wandy Rodriguez be on the trading block?