Hampton Being Hampton

Mike Hampton had made it nearly all the way through a rehab assignment successfully.  He just needed to make one more rehab start.  After trying to come back and pitch in the majors for so long, surely, finally, something would go his way.  Maybe he’d be back in the Majors pitching against the Marlins next week.

And then he had to leave last night’s game at AA Mississippi in the second inning with a strained left groin.

It’s only a mild strain, and he’s expected to make at least one more rehab start and then they’re re-assess him.  He’s only Day-to-Day - it’s not like his leg detached.  But that’s how the story goes.  Mike, we wish you the best and truly hope to see you come back strong in Atlanta.  Just be careful and have someone drive you everywhere you go.  And have someone else brush your teeth for you too.  Ya know what, just go ahead and buy a giant plastic bubble.

- Colin

Another Injury-Filled Day

It seems that I spend more time these days writing about injuries than I do about anything else.  Every day it’s disabled lists, injuries, surgeries, lack of pitching….get the picture?  So while the Braves finished up a strong homestand today, why would it be any different?  So let’s get to it and highlight the injuries du jour:

Jo-Jo Reyes - Jo-Jo made the start in today’s game against the Padres.  Reyes didn’t have his best stuff today and left the game in the third inning with a blister on the index finger of his throwing hand.  This is one of those nagging little injuries that you just want to take care of so that it doesn’t become a nagging problem.

Buddy Carlyle - Buddy replaced Jo-Jo Reyes after he left with his injury in the third inning today.  Carlyle however only made it through 6 batters before colliding with Kevin Kouzmanoff while trying to field a ball down the first base line.  He recorded the out but fell to the field in obvious pain.  Buddy was diagnosed with a muscle strain in the left side of his neck and is listed as day-to-day.

Peter Moylan - Moylan underwent Tommy John surgery today and will miss the next 12 months or so.  He will be missed in the Braves’ bullpen.

Brayan Pena - Brayan was placed on the 15-day disabled list today with a back strain.  Pena’s trip to the disabled list made room on the roster for utility man, Omar Infante, who was activated today after breaking his hand in Venezuelan winter leagues. Infante made the start in today’s game in place of Kelly Johnson at second base.

So those are the injuries for today.  Check back in tomorrow and I’m sure we’ll have more to keep you updated about.  In the meantime, let’s hope the Braves can figure out the secret to winning on the road as we head to Pittsburgh.

Moylan Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

Not being seen much as a surprise, Braves’ reliever Peter Moylan underwent Tommy John surgery today when he went to see his doctor in Birmingham.  After the surgery, Moylan’s doctor, James Andrews, confirmed that a bone spur had lodged itself into the UCL in Moylan’s right elbow.  This had compromised the integrity of the ligament to the point that it would not have been rehabilitable.

The Braves are no strangers to Tommy John surgery.  The surgery, which involves replacing the UCL in the elbow with a tendon from the leg, requires at least a year of rehabilitation and recovery time until the individual can pitch again.  Moylan’s hoping that he can return to the Braves’ bullpen around this time next year and continue to help carry the bullpen as a setup man.  In seven appearances thus far this season, Moylan had posted a 1.59 ERA.

Soriano Showing No Improvement

Braves closer Rafael Soriano’s bullpen session today was cut short with continuing soreness in his elbow.  Soriano began experiencing the soreness in his throwing elbow early in Grapefruit League play and missed roughly half of the preseason.  He only made 4 appearances this season before landing on the 15-day disabled list when the soreness continued to worsen.  The Braves hoped to have him back in the bullpen soon, but his condition seems to be showing no improvement as of now.

Soriano will undergo an MRI and a series of other tests tomorrow to try to determine the continuing cause of the elbow pain.  With Mike Gonzalez and John Smoltz hopefully soon being activated and heading to the bullpen, the Braves can probably survive on the arms they have available, but it would be nice to have Soriano in place to be a solid setup man should Smoltz become the closer.  Here’s hoping the results of tomorrow’s tests are favorable for Rafael.

Prado To Disabled List

Martin Prado was placed on the 15-day disabled list earlier today with a sprained thumb suffered diving into first to obtain an infield single during yesterday’s game against the Reds.  Prado’s thumb is in a cast and the Braves are expecting him to be out a full 6 weeks as a result of this injury.

In other news, the Braves have moved Peter Moylan over to the 60-day disabled list.  Moylan will have season-ending Tommy John surgery later this week.  The surgery requires at least a year of recovery time and I’d like to see Moylan back as soon as possible.  Just more injuries to hamper the Braves.

Hampton Ponders Retirement

After his latest injury in Richmond, reaggravating his strained pectoral muscle, Mike Hampton found himself in a far too familiar position.  On the disabled list with a recommendation of not touching a baseball.  An MRI confirmed that it was just a strain and that the pectoral muscle was not actually torn.  Shortly after the reinjury, Hampton pondered whether or not retiring at the end of his current contract would be the best option.

Hampton’s in the final year of his $121 million contract.  Since 2005, he has made 12 starts in the majors and made $56 million dollars.  On that fact alone, he’ll always have the critics against him.  I don’t think he takes satisfaction in making multi-millions and not pitching at all, but rather he just is injury-prone and has had a series of bad luck.  He’s not giving up on it yet and is planning to continue working throughout the season before making a final decision on what to do after this season.  If he doesn’t pitch this season, however, I feel like he’ll have a tough time finding a new contract somewhere.

More to come on this one as we hear it, but I doubt there will be any developments on it anytime soon.

Braves Injury Updates

It has been a tough season on the injury-front for the Braves already this season, especially when we take a look at our pitching staff.  I figured we could use today’s off-day to do a quick review of where we stand with a lot of the injuries that are plaguing the team on both sides of the ball thus far.  We need most (and preferably all) of these guys healthy if we want to have a hope at returning to the playoffs this season:

Chipper Jones - Chipper missed the last two games with spasms in his lower back.  This is a tricky injury that could be gone in a minute or stick around for a couple of weeks.  Chipper’s tough though and if there’s any chance of him playing, he’s not going to miss a game.  He’s still having some trouble rotating his body though, so we may see him miss another game or two.  He should hopefully be back by the time the Braves return to Turner Field this weekend.

Yunel Escobar - Yunel cracked his fingernail trying to lay down a bunt in Friday night’s game and missed the games on Saturday and Sunday as a result.  Bobby Cox said there’s an outside chance that we’ll see Yunel play Tuesday night.  The swelling in his finger is going down but he’s still unable to really grip a bat and I’m sure he’ll be severely crippled by the injury in the field as well.  I look for him to be back in the lineup by the time the Braves head back to Atlanta as well.

John Smoltz - Smoltz has been bothered off and on by soreness between his neck and shoulder.  He was strong in his two previous starts before coming out of the game after only 3 innings yesterday.  In his postgame interviews, Smoltz gave a less than positive impression of how he was feeling, saying that he doesn’t know if this is more than just muscle tightness.  Losing Smoltz would be a huge blow to our already crippled pitching staff, but if a month on the DL would keep him healthier through the rest of the season, it’s for the best.  I’m sure we’ll hear more on this soon as Smoltz may head back to Atlanta for medical evaluation.

Tom Glavine - Glavine’s expected to return from the disabled list to make his start this Tuesday.  Tommy has been out for a couple of weeks after leaving a game in the first inning with tightness in his hamstring.  His stint on the DL has gone smoothly however and the Braves are confident that he’ll be ready to go against the Nationals tomorrow night.

Mike Hampton - How can there be an injury report without a man by the name of Mike Hampton.  Hampton’s still looking to make his first start in the majors since 2005 after a slew of injuries.  The latest was straining a pectoral muscle while warming up for a start at Turner Field earlier this season.  Hampton made a start with AAA Richmond this past week and went three innings.  I’d look for at least one more rehab start in Richmond before he heads back to Atlanta to make another attempt at starting.  He joined up with the team in New York this past weekend however and spent some time playing catch pregame.

Peter Moylan - Losing Moylan for the remainder of the season is a scary prospect, but is highly likely at this point in time.  Moylan is currently on the 15-day disabled list with a bone spur in his elbow that has compromised his UCL.  Later this week, he will be reevaluated to make a determination as to whether or not he will need to undergo Tommy John surgery to repair the ligament.  I say that if this is the determination that is made, they shouldn’t waste any time in getting the surgery done to give Moylan as much time to recover as possible.  Tommy John usually requires a year at the minimum for recovery and rehab.

Mike Gonzalez - Gonzalez made an appearance in extended spring training last week throwing 12 pitches.  He still has a ways to go to be ready to pitch in the majors, but hopefully after a month or so more of rehab, we’ll be able to look to him to take a spot in the bullpen.

Rafael Soriano - Soriano’s elbow troubles continue to plague him.  When his stint on the 15-day disabled list was over, he was definitely not ready to come back to pitch.  We need Soriano healthy to take his spot as the closer, especially with Moylan down and out as well.  We’ll have to rely on Acosta for now until we get Soriano back.  Soriano threw a bullpen session last week and experienced some lingering discomfort in the elbow, but will continue to try throwing over the next week.

So there are the current injuries that are hampering the team.  On the offensive side, we desperately need Chipper and Yunel back in the lineup as they are great producers on that side of the ball.  Most of our problems lie in pitching however; 3 of our 5 starters are on this list as well as a number of key bullpen members.  Without pitching, we’re not going to go very far this season.

Francoeur’s Foot Woes

It’s been visibly noticeable that Jeff Francoeur hasn’t had the usual speed and mobility in right field the last couple of games, letting balls drop that would normally be no problem for him to take care of.  Problems became much more apparent in Tuesday night’s game against the Nationals when Jeff pulled up while jogging back to first on a foul ball.  Bobby Cox came out to talk to him about it and Frenchie stayed in for the rest of the game.

Word is that, since the start of Spring Training, Jeff has had some on-and-off pain on the top of his right foot where the foot meets the ankle.  Frenchie is stubborn however and doesn’t want to let this affect his playing time.  Jeff has the longest active consecutive game streak in the National League at 347 as of last night’s game (he’s second in MLB to Grady Sizemore who is at 378), but this isn’t as important as seeing him healthy down the stretch and into future seasons.

There’s no current indication as to the cause of the pain, but Jeff is speculating that it is remnant issues from the broken leg he suffered in high school playing football.  We’ll look to see any further updates on the issue and hope that Jeff can stay healthy for the remainder of the season.

Glavine Explores New Territory

For the first time in his 22-year major league career, Tom Glavine will be headed to the DL with a hamstring strain. Glavine left his last start in Washington after facing just four hitters and recording no uts, his shortest outing since 1989.

Glavine joins the long list of Braves pitchers already on the DL. Moylan, Soriano and Mike Gonzalez out of the bullpen to go with starter Mike Hampton, who now makes the disables list his vacation home during the season.

Glavine finished last season in the top three in the NL in quality starts (along with Smoltz and Hudson) and was well on his way to getting there again. He had allowed just one earned run in 11 1/3 innings before the Washington start.

Barring further injury, Glavine will be eligible to come off the DL  Tuesda, May 29 with his placement on the DL retroactive to the 14th.

Starting tomorrow, Chuck James makes his second return to the bigs this season and will take the mound on Saturday against the Dodgers. Hopefully it will be better than his first where he allowed the Rockies to get ahead before the Braves were able to put some runs on the board. If James is ineffective, Jojo Reyes would also be available.

Season May Be Over For Moylan

We won’t know for sure for a couple of weeks, but there’s a chance that Peter Moylan is done for the season with his elbow injury.  The Braves will reevaluate his status in two weeks to determine the next best step for Moylan.  The diagnosis was confirmed today with a second look at his elbow; a bone spur pressing against his ulnar collateral ligament has compromised the integrity of the ligament.

We should know in a couple of weeks if Moylan will need Tommy John surgery to reconstruct his UCL.  If surgery is deemed necessary, he will definitely be done for the remainder of the season for the long recovery process.  More to come on this as we hear it, but it’s not the best news for our bullpen right now.

Glavine Leaves With Strained Hamstring

Tom Glavine’s start against the Nationals today ended after only 16 pitches, with Tommy leaving the game in the first inning with the bases loaded.  After a pitch, he walked off the mound, did some stretches and talked with Bobby Cox; at that point, his day was done.  Initial word is that he has a strained left hamstring.  Jeff Bennett came in to replace him and try to clean up the inning.  On the day, Glavine is credited with 0.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 K.

Glavine has never been on the disabled list in his 22-year career, but this looks like a possibility at this point.  The Braves are hurting for pitching at this point so hopefully he’ll be okay.  We’ll have more updates on his status as we find out about them.

Smoltz Out After 5

John Smoltz was activated from the disabled list today to make his start against the Mets this afternoon.  Smoltz had been on the 15-day DL with some soreness between his neck and his right shoulder dating back into preseason play.  He looked solid from the mound today, striking out 6 in 5 innings of 2-hit, scoreless work.  Smoltz left the game before the 6th inning, throwing 78 pitches on the day.

As we found out at the end of the game today, Smoltz experienced some of the same pain and tightness that originally placed him on the disabled list while warming up before the 5th inning.  He pitched through the inning and left the game after talking to Bobby Cox about the issue.  It’s just too early in the season to risk losing Smoltz for an extended period of time.   In a postgame interview, Smoltz said he was confident that he’d be back on the mound without missing a start.

In related news, to make room for Smoltz back on the active roster, Jo-Jo Reyes was optioned back to AAA Richmond.  Reyes was brought up to fill the roster spot vacated by Mike Hampton being placed on the 15-day DL.

Hopefully we’ll see Smoltz make his scheduled start on Friday to open the series against the Washington Nationals.  I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about the condition of his shoulder as the week goes on.