Bad News On Tommy Hanson

Hello again everyone from sunny southeast Michigan, where it suddenly feels like Fall. Absolutely beautiful weather up here!

Unfortunately, the news out of Chicago on Tommy Hanson was not nearly as beautiful. While it’s hard to tell where the news ends and the obfuscation begins (how’s that for today’s vocabulary lesson?), there’s no way to spin the word on Tommy as a positive development.

In a nutshell, Hanson threw only nine pitches on Monday when he took to the mound for the first time since going on the DL. The spin on Monday was that he just wanted to get a feel for throwing off the mound. Then, when he was supposed to throw a longer bullpen session today, he was a no-show. The latest obfusca—er, news, –was that he was too tired from his nine pitches. Right. Tommy himself was not made available for comment.

At this point, the only thing that is known is that Hanson will not make his scheduled rehab start on Saturday. Everything else is speculation. But, this is a blog, after all, and the Braves “started it” with their (shall I be kind?) disinformation, so I’ll speculate away. I think Hanson is hurting worse than has been let on and has been since his first trip to the DL earlier this year. I think that no one knows why, so the pain is being blamed on the all-purpose diagnosis of tendinitis. I would not at all be surprised to see the team perform additional MRI’s on the shoulder.

If there is any good news it’s that there is no pressure on the team to rush Hanson back. They have a huge lead on the wild card and have only a puncher’s chance to catch the Phillies. Further, Mike Minor is doing a great job in filling in. Finally, it is actually in the Braves’ best interests that he not be activated before September 1st (or, depending on how you look at it at least not against the Braves interests), as that way he’s still eligible for the post-season but the Braves haven’t committed a roster spot to him.

At the end of the day, I can’t tell you how concerned I am for Hanson. Elbows can be fixed almost easily. Shoulders, especially rotator cuffs, should that turn out to be the problem, cannot. Shoulders don’t threaten seasons, they threaten pitchers’ careers. For the Braves and for Tommy Hanson, let’s all hope that it is tendinitis. That way, he’ll be all rested for the playoffs and will be the most dominating starting pitcher on the squad.

That’s my take on things. What’s yours?