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Braves’ Pitching Abounds
Written by Colin on June 2, 2009 – 10:01 amThe Braves starting pitching continues to excel this season – and while Frank Wren searches for some more offense to back up the staff, the Braves are not lacking in starting pitching depth.
Derek Lowe is 6-3 with a 3.49 ERA (8 quality starts), Jair Jurrjens is 5-2 with a beautiful 2.59 ERA (7 quality starts), and Javier Vazquez is doing ok – he has an even 4-4 record with a 3.58 ERA (7 quality starts). Behind that, Kenshin Kawakami appears to be struggling at 3-6 with a 4.73 ERA, but you’d be having trouble too if you only got an average of 1.7 runs scored per game when you were pitching. With such lousy run support, it’s a wonder Kawakami has three wins.
Glavine is ready to come to Atlanta and start. Whether or not he’ll be good, we’ll see. He’s ready though. Kris Medlen had two rough starts but was great in his last start as he struck out nine in six innings of work. He may just have a chance to stick around and prove he has the stuff he needs to excel in the majors. And of course we have Tommy Hanson honing his skills in Gwinnett, waiting to make the 45 minute drive south and show us his stuff. Oh, and Tim Hudson is on track for a return in August or September.
So what happens now? We’ve got Tommy ready to pitch, Medlen to give some playing time to, Hanson to fit in, and 2 pitchers that are doing alright.
I think the odd man out, interestingly enough, is Javier Vazquez. He has a high strikeout rate, but the Braves give him the most run support while he’s on the mound (5.5 runs per game) and yet he’s only 4-4 – and the Braves are only .455 when he gets the ball. To give you an idea of how bad that is, the Braves are .400 with Jo-Jo Reyes starting. Kawakami needs more run support, but with that run support he’ll likely be much better. He could end up being the odd man out too.
Who’s the odd man out? What does our rotation/bullpen look like at the end of the year?
Tags: Derek Lowe, Jair Jurrjens, Jo-Jo Reyes, Kenshin Kawakami, Kris Medlen, Tim Hudson, Tom Glavine, Tommy Hanson
Posted in General | 2 Comments »
By Jose Cerrato on Jun 2, 2009 | Reply
I think that when September starts, Hanson will be called up finally, Medlen will be in the bullpen, Glavine will be gone, Hudson will have a couple of starts and will remain in the rotation. That leaves a rotation of Lowe, JJ, Vazquez, KK, Hudson.
I think Hanson will start in place of KK or JJ if either of both are tired most likely KK.
I don't think we're trading anybdoy of the top three and KK's contract is imposible to move.
But that's just what I think
By David Pierce on Jun 3, 2009 | Reply
I am pretty sure the braves are not going to do anything even though they need to. If someone is gonna go its either gonna be glavine by virtue of age and injury forcing his hand or its would be vazquez simply because his contract is nice and big enough to help with flexing in a power bat. Kawakami is not going anywhere this year, mark that down. The braves dont want to move him and create a case where players in the japanese market down the road don't want to come here. Moving KK would give that impression.