After Jason Grilli Injury What’s Next for The Braves Bullpen
By Fred Owens
After yesterday’s disaster in Denver what’s next for the Braves bullpen?
Braves Bullpen Shuffled Again
Yesterday Braves fans witness Jason Grilli go down with a season – and possibly career – ending injury. Grilli’s ruptured Achilles tendon will force another shuffle of the Braves bullpen but it won’t be as big a shake up and many believe. . .at least initially. For tomorrow the skipper will piece it together with everyone available. After the break I expect the bullpen to be Jim Johnson, Arodys Vizcaino, David Aardsma, David Carpenter (Carp II), Luis Avilan, Jake Brigham, Mike Foltynewizc
Who will close?
The one place the roster had depth was in experienced closers.Johnson is pitching like the guy who save 51 games in 2012 and 50 in 2103 for the Orioles. Clearly he becomes the closer.
Who pitches the eighth inning.
Fredi will mix and match with Vizcaino, Avilan and Carp II. If Vizzy continues to pitch well the eighth will eventually be his.
Okay who gets the seventh?
The seventh will depend on the game situation and how soon they put Manny Banuelos in the bullpen. They had planned to give him at least one or two more starts. They can either stick to that or put him right in the pen and let Folty make those starts as he’s more comfortable doing that.
I expect them to stick with the plan and the seventh will be either Carp II or Aardsma allowing Avilan to be the lefty specialist.
What’s Else is Coming
Brandon Cunniff will be back shortly after the break with Williams Perez, Josh Outman and Andrew McKirahan following quickly behind them. Brigham wil be among the first to head back to AAA while Perez’s return should signal the Banuelos move to the bullpen and Folty’s return to Gwinnett.
Whether Outman sticks or is DFA depends on his rehab innings. McKirahan has to stay or returned per rule 5. If he pitches as he did early in the year he should stay making Outman a trade piece.
The Braves could potentially trade bullpen pieces like Johnson, Aardsma or others and maybe a starter forcing further changes. This is a team in transition and in spite of all the “what if” and “could we possibly” ideas being floated, it never had the roster strength to be a serious challenger
That’s A Wrap
All of the comments I’ve seen make this decision a lot harder than it is. Most of us expected Grilli to be moved and rumors were flying that the move was close. The Braves have been planning how to deal with life after Grilli a while, the objective difference is that we didn’t get a player in return. The real upheaval starts if/when the trades start – and I think they will start fairly quickly and continue into August.
The most important consideration is for the health of Jason Grilli. According to medicinecabinet.net “. . .Return to routine activities usually occurs at four to six months. The recovery phase is dependent on the patient’s motivation, desired activity levels, and the quality of the physical therapy program. . . .” Baseball isn’t routine activity so it’s likely he’ll be out nine months or longer.
The Braves family and the folks here at the Take all want to see Jason back on the mound wearing the Tomahawk and pray for the speedy recovery and return to action of one of the games good guys.