Atlanta Braves and The Curious Case of Mike Minor

Are the Atlanta Braves Stuck with Mike Minor?

Yes. Or at least it would so appear. In an update from MLBTR, Mark Polishuk notes an interesting tid-bit by David O’Brien of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

“Mike Minor‘s fate is still up in the air as the Braves approach the non-tender deadline on December 2, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes.  Minor missed all of 2015 recovering from labrum surgery and suffered a setback in early November that has limited him to stretching and range-of-motion exercises.  As such, the Braves still haven’t seen Minor throw off a mound, which Coppolella indicated a few weeks ago as a significant factor in the team’s decision.  The GM tells O’Brien that the Braves are still gathering more information about Minor’s status, and he praised Minor and agent B.B. Abbott for their openness.” – MLBTR via David O’Brien

A few things jump out at me. Allow me to divulge for you my initial reaction.

• The ability to throw off the mound is the biggest hang up on the decision process. It seems they are willing (forced) to hold on to him.
• If I were Minor, I would accept an assignment to AAA. Why? He is going to have to go there to rehab anyway, and in his current state, he will need all the rehab he can get.
• If it turns out he can’t continue, the club can always DFA or outright release him. Yeah, it sucks to have to eat the $$$, but no one will take him if his injury issues continue (too much of a liability).

On the flip side of this coin, our own Fletcher Batts had a different reaction:

“This is the same guy who took them to arbitration over a 500k difference knowing damn well his arm was trash and needed surgery. Him doing the “right thing” isn’t in his DNA.”

Ha, bitter much, Fletcher?

But, does Fletcher have a point? He was already coming off arm surgery, and to take the Braves to court over $500K, at the time, seemed greedy and desperate.  Going into arbitration, to some Braves fans was crazy, many thought there would be no way Minor would win that case, but he did.

That statement prompted this from me:

“This is probably why he has been so open about his progress. That being said, I would be completely fine if he were not on the roster. We have a slew of better options in the wings now. Minor is expendable.”

So now, the question still remains, what are the Braves to do with Mike Minor? The way I see it, I don’t see them letting him go at this moment. If he proves he has moved past his arm issues, then bring him up. It frees up another arm we can use in a trade deal. If not, we eat his remaining salary and cut our losses. Like I said, we have a stock pile of arms in the same place Minor would be upon returning for rehab.

Minor’s liability makes him expendable. Unfortunately, I feel Minor has seen his final days in the Major Leagues. I hope not, because he was a reliable, good pitcher when he was healthy. So, what will the Braves do with Mike Minor? He’s easily forgotten about because we haven’t seen him in almost a year.

We’ve changed front office regimes twice since he last pitched in a regular season game. And now you have a young GM who is hell-bent on loading young pitchers.

I don’t think there’s room for Minor now. His value is non-existent rendering him un-tradable. So maybe, the more appropriate question should be “How do you solve the problem of Mike Minor?” You cut ties with him, you lose nothing but the money. You don’t even gain a roster spot with him because he was never on the roster.

Right now, it’s wait and see. But if I were a betting man, and I’m not, I’d have to bet Mike Minor has seen his last days in a Braves uniform.