With rotation out of whack, Braves took to Medlen
Thursday was the Braves' first off day since May 10, which came on the road in the middle of a stretch of 33 games in 34 days. Every player was feeling it by the time they'd held on to beat the Cardinals, 10-7, Wednesday.
General manager Frank Wren says he can't really evaluate the team right now because they've been missing so many key pieces, notably third baseman Chipper Jones, and until the last few games, catcher Brian McCann and first baseman Freddie Freeman.
But he didn't let that stop him from addressing the mediocre state of the team's starting pitching.
Clearly he is not impressed with right-hander Jair Jurrjens's consistency since he was demoted to Triple-A Gwinnett on April 24 (3-2, 4.85 ERA, six games, 39 innings).
That's to say nothing of the horrid outings turned in at Gwinnett by right-hander Julio Teheran, who was once the organization's top-rated prospect (4-2, 3.57 ERA, 10 games, 45.1 innings).
Right-hander Todd Redmond's stats look better at 5-3 with a 2.47 ERA over 10 games and 58.1 innings, but not good enough to give him a shot at the rotation.
Instead, versatile right-hander Kris Medlen was optioned to Gwinnett on Tuesday to get stretched out to move to the rotation, assuming he pitches the way he's expected to pitch.
The Braves, strangely, also have an off day scheduled for Monday before they face the Marlins for three games in Miami. So the plan, while the bullpen is down a pitcher (Medlen), is to have rookie right-hander Randall Delgado available in the bullpen for the Nationals series.
If he has to be used, his scheduled start Tuesday will be skipped and the rotation will move up.
