Braves Shut Down Mike Minor

Word came this after noon that Braves lefty Mike Minor has thrown his last pitch for 2014

Minor left Saturday’s start against the Mets after just one inning and 20 pitches. Word came later that he was experiencing shoulder soreness. On Sunday Minor told reporters that it was the same soreness he felt during spring training. At that time he was shut down and didn’t rejoin the Braves rotation until 2 May.

Like the Braves Minor had an up and down season

Minor started off well enough after his return. In his six May starts he pitched to a 3.41 ERA and a 1.243 WHIP. In June whoever things started to go bad for the lefty, his ERAS rocketed to 5.90 boosted by a WHIP of 1.793. July was worse and August started off that way. From 1 July through his start on 1 August Minor posted a 7.31 ERA and a 1.815 WHIP allowing seven home runs in his 32 innings over six starts. Six weeks ago I took an in depth look at Minor’s slide and came to the conclusion that his shoulder was still the issue

"I’m going to suggest that this all stems from the shoulder issue back in January.  Before I go farther I understand that Minor says it doesn’t hurt and he isn’t injured.. . I am not suggesting that he’s hiding an injury rather that he thinks what he feels is normal soreness and he must be just missing his target."

A position that a major league scout supported in an interview with Mark bowman and Joe Morgan

"An American League scout present for Tuesday night’s game said he is convinced that Minor is injured. While this theory is shared by some, the 26-year-old lefty has continued to show relatively normal arm strength. In fact, per Fangraphs.com, the average velocity of his fastball, curveball and slider has been higher than it was last year."

Then suddenly Minor turned it around.

Minor credited the turn around to Ervin Santana. Santana was watching him in the bullpen when he noticed that his slider grip wasn’t right . Minor tried Santana’s way and between August 12 and 14 September Minor looked like his old self. In those seven starts he posted a 3.30 ERA and a 1.122 WHIP while allowing just  three home runs in 46 1/3 innings. Everything was going well until Saturday, then it wasn’t

That’s A Wrap

Minor would have had only one more start this year in any event. More troubling in many ways is the way Minor described pain from the injury; “exactly like I felt in spring training.”  Shoulder pain always raises a caution flag for pitchers because there really is no fix for it. Sure you can rest it and hope it goes away and you can strengthen the muscles around the shoulder but the shoulder is a complex mechanism that is never quite the same after injury.  Shoulder injuries result in a loss of command but may not create a loss in velocity. I go back to Jason Schmidt’s description of how such injuries affect a pitcher.

"“. . .you try to throw from your normal arm angle and feel a little pinch . . .you drop down a little bit and don’t have that pinch, but you can’t locate. .  since you’ve dropped down, you start putting pressure somewhere else and . . . you feel soreness in another spot in your shoulder. It’s a never-ending battle.”"

With the season ending on Sunday Minor has time to rest the shoulder, get some rehab time and even a shot or two if they feel it’s worthwhile. For the Braves the timing is not good. Minor will be in for his second arbitration year ( he was a super two player and earned an extra year.) He earned $3.85M this season and would be in line for something near 5 to 5.5M next. How will this injury affect that offer?  Minor was also considered to be the arm most likely to be traded if needed to move the B.J. Upton contract. The injury lowers his value. If he isn’t traded and the shoulder issue goes away it could be one of those “best deal that never happened” events because at the top of his game he’s a number two starter on most rotations with big game chops. If it doesn’t go away he could become another Tommy Hanson.

The decision on what to offer and whether or not to trade will be something the new GM will have to face almost immediately. In the meantime David Hale will get his chance to stake a claim for next year’s rotation when he makes Minor’s next scheduled.  I wish both Hale and Minor the best possible luck and outcome.