Braves fans... Kris Medlen!

[Beaver.sixpack]

I hope everybody has been watching this guy pitch. His scoreless innings streak is up to 28-1/3 innings. We have him signed to a 1 year, $490,000 contract. What do we do with him when the season is over? I don't want to lose him and not get anything in return, so we have to re-sign him. However, I don't know if a few solid starts warrants a big-time contract just yet. Don't forget he has just come back from Tommy John surgery.

 

[War Machine Dawg]

Ummm.....you're nuts if you think we won't re-sign him. He was arguably our best pitcher before his TJ surgery. And most guys are now coming back better after TJ than they were before TJ. The kid just has "it." He won't blow you away with his velo, but his command is unreal and he has a very nasty changeup. He pounds the strike zone and can move the ball in and out like few can. He's also an innings-eater, something in short supply in our rotation. I still have no clue why he wasn't given the opportunity to compete for a rotation spot in the spring. (Well, I actually do, and his name is Frank Wren, but I digress.) This scoreless streak is great, but you apparently haven't been watching much of the Braves the last few seasons if you think what Medlen is doing is a fluke or just "a few solid starts." He's a quality arm that will be in our rotation a LONG time. I've been a big Medlen fan for a while now.

 

[Beaver.sixpack]

I didn't say anything about this being a fluke. I realize he's been a quality arm in and out of the bullpen since '09. A 3-year ERA of 3.20 is pretty good, but you don't typically give a guy who has only made 23 career starts a Tim Hudson type contract... I'm fairly certain we'll resign him too, but my main question was whether we try to sign him to a long term contract now, or try to sign him to a 2-3 year deal, or even to a 1-2 year deal and then trade for a bat. I really like Medlen too, but I'm not the GM..

 

[justin.sixpack]

This offseason will be his first year of arbitration eligibility. He isn't a free agent until 2016. So the Braves can take it one year at a time for one to three seasons before deciding whether to offer a big long term deal.

 

[SanfordRJones]

So are you saying the Braves were wrong to leave him out of the rotation at the beginning of the year? If so, would you be complaining right now if he were at his innings limit for the year and we were forced to shut him down like the Nats will have to do with Strasburg?

 

[War Machine Dawg]

Absolutely we were wrong.....

To not give him a shot at the rotation at the beginning of the year. And I don't think he'd have had an innings limit placed on him like Strasburg. The Braves haven't done that with any other pitcher coming back from TJ, and I see no reason they'd start with Medlen. Preventative shutdowns like Strasburg are ridiculous and counterproductive. Plus, I highly doubt we'd shut down a pitcher in the middle of a playoff race barring an actual, new injury. It's just not how the Braves as an organization do things.