Pitching on the Way?

Update!!! 4/24/2008
Mike Gonzalez: Gonzalez was originally supposed to come off the DL around the all-star break. Thankfully he has been work extremely hard and is now expected to be ready by mid May. We can only hope that he will not have any major set backs that will keep him out longer.

“He’s getting real close,” Cox said of Gonzalez, who has encountered few problems while making his bid to return from Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery.

Gonzalez threw 23 pitches during a two-inning simulated game at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on Tuesday. He plans to throw one-inning simulated games on Thursday and Saturday.

It’s not a proven fact that he will return in mid May, but in all likelihood we will be seeing the return of my favorite Atlanta Brave relief pitcher.

“It’s possible,” Cox said. “I’m not saying it’s going to happen. But it’s a possibility.”

Tom Glavine: Glavine who experienced his first DL stint in his 20 plus years in the majors is set to come off the DL on Tuesday. Glavine will bring another veteran presence to our very good rotation thus far.

The problem is that our rotation isn’t our weak point right now. In a matter of a fact, it’s keeping us in close games. The problem is our inconsistent offense and a roller coaster of a bullpen. As the season goes along our pen will get better, but the offense I just can’t figure out.

Mike Hampton: The injury plagued starter is set to go on a rehab assignment for the Richmond Braves on Friday. This will really help our rotation and pen if Hampton can come back with some confidence.

Since the Braves are going to me off two days next week, Mark Bowman of braves.com speculates that he will probably go through another rehab assignment.

“We’ll see how it goes [on Friday],” Cox said. “He’ll throw his side [sessions], and we’ll see what he needs.”

The addition of Hampton will let the Braves put Jeff Bennett back in the pen. Bennett can then take the spot of Peter Moylan as the Braves ground ball specialist.
As we all know the Atlanta Braves have been decimated with injuries so far in the 2008 season. The Braves have done a pretty good job thus far fighting off those injuries and staying in the race. Most teams in the NL East are battling injuries, but none more than the Braves. The Braves have three all-star caliber relievers that are out in Peter Moylan, Rafael Soriano, and Mike Gonzalez. One of our versatile utility players Omar Infante has been bothered with a broken hand since the beginning of spring training. Even though our starting pitching this season has been really good, our starting rotation is missing two quality veteran lefties in Mike Hampton and Tom Glavine. As the season goes along expect the Braves to get healthier and better.Starting Pitching Injuries: Tom Glavine was sent to the DL for the first time in his long 22 year major league career. The 303 career game winner is expected to come off the DL on April 29th. Until then we’re going to use young lefty Chuck James in his spot. Glavine’s right hamstring has been slow to recover, but I expect for him to come back and still be a very good number 3 starter in our rotation.

As for Mike Hampton, he completed a very successful bullpen session today.

“It went pretty well — I threw just breaking balls this time,” said Hampton. “I didn’t feel anything bite me. Mentally, I’m a little tentative, maybe, trying to feel my way through it.

“I had a little bit more velocity,” he added, assessing his strength at about 85 percent. “I’m still a little tentative of the injury itself, but [the bullpen session] was with more intensity than last time.”

“I probably threw four or five curveballs, four or five cutters, a couple of changeups, just kind of feeling through it,” Hampton said. “I didn’t want to go out there and let it go the first time. The next time I’ll make that step.”

The former 20 game winner is scheduled to throw another bullpen session on Tuesday. After he does that he is expect to make a rehab assignment or two in the minors. We should expect for Mike Hampton in an Atlanta Braves uniform in about 2-3 weeks.Bullpen Injuries: Well the Braves bullpen has been the most effected by the injury bug in this young 2008 season.

The worst of all of the injuries is Peter Moylan’s right arm injury. Dr. Andres said the Braves should wait for two weeks in find out to see if he will need Tommy John Surgery or not. All indications point that he will need the surgery. Even though, the Aussie native has been encourage with his progressed so far in his mini rehab assignments. Losing Peter Moylan for the year is going to have the bigger impact on the Braves than most people think.

On the bright side, Braves closer Rafael Soriano is expected to come off the DL on Tuesday in the series against the Washington Nationals. This helps the Braves manager Bobby Cox put some of the relievers in the spot that will help them be more effective. Soriano was battling shoulder stiffness through all of spring training. The Braves wanted to be on the safe side of things so they just put him on the DL. We’re defiantly going to need Soriano to help cover up for Peter Moylan’s absence.

Now my favorite Braves player Mike Gonzalez, he has been ahead of schedule up to now. This strikeout lefty should be a great 8th or 9th inning guy for the Braves when he returns. That will help shorten the game for the Braves starting pitchers and less pressure on the hitters. Getting Gonzalez will really help against tough guys like Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, or Carlos Delgado in late game situations. He doesn’t just get lefties out, he can get right handed hitters at an equally high rate too. If all goes well, he is expected to come back in late May.Bench Injuries: Braves general manager Frank Wren has said that Omar Infante will be ready to begin a rehab assignment in about 7-10 days. That will probably be bad news for Martin Prado or one of the backup catchers. Infante and play the outfield and all of the infield positions. He is also very good at handling the bat and has very good speed. The additions of Infante will just make the Braves just a little bit better.