Atlanta Braves Thinking of Bringing Back Minor

Sep 14, 2014; Braves starting pitcher Mike Minor (36) pitches against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

This was a bit of a news flash late yesterday – particularly to me, as I’ve long been on record to the contrary:

That’s…. interesting.

In case you’ve forgotten, Mike Minor had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder way back in the middle of May.  While that effectively ended his season right there after a series of attempts to pitch after rest periods during Spring, my own speculation was that it would also end Minor’s tenure in a Braves’ uniform due to the bad mix of cost and risk factors.

Perhaps that assessment was a bit premature.

A Little History

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Mike Minor has been a Brave since being drafted out of Vanderbilt University in 2009 as a 7th overall pick in the first round.  He made it to the majors for 8 starts in 2010 and has had an up-and-down career since then – most of that being at the major league level.

In short:  when Mike is healthy, he’s been very good.  When something has been bothering him, he’s not.  Unfortunately, the latter has been the case more often than not lately, and that’s led to numbers like these:

• 2011:  4.14 ERA in 83 major league innings (101 in AAA/3.22)
• 2012:  4.12 ERA in 179 innings
• 2013:  3.21 ERA in 204 innings (clearly his best season)
• 2014:  4.77 ERA in 145 innings
• 2015:  missed entire season

Minor was tagged as a ‘Super-2’ player, meaning that he was awarded an extra (4th) year of salary arbitration.  Thus he is still ‘under team control’ for 2 more seasons:  2016-17.

It was unfortunate for the Braves that they believed Minor was completely healthy during the 2014-15 off-season after that poor 2014.  Minor was offered arbitration, and then became the first Braves’ player in 14 years to go to trial over that arbitration.  Somehow, he won that case and was awarded a $5.6 million contract for 2015 – a sum that he is being paid while he continues to rehabilitate the repaired shoulder.

So now the Braves are apparently interested in ‘doubling down’ on those lost dollars by trying to bring him back again for 2016.

Let’s see if we can find some reasons for doing so.

Next: But.... why risk it?