Atlanta Braves Pitcher Aaron Blair Injures Knee

Atlanta Braves righty Aaron Blair  had to be helped from the field during a bullpen Thursday afternoon after injuring his knee.

According to David O’Brien Blair was throwing a side session when the knee gave way.  While apparently not serious the injury is another ding to the Braves starting rotation that tests their pitching depth,

Walking Wounded and Others

The list of injured and demoted starters is longer than the list of pitchers able to replace them.

• Williams Perez is on the DL with a strained rotator cuff
• Manny Banuelos is still trying to recover from his injuries and was placed on the minor league DL Thursday
• Julio Teheran is on the a lat strain
• John Gant on the DL but making Rehab starts
• Casey Kelly on the DL
• Matt Wisler was demoted last week and pitched well in his only start since then but would be on short rest.

The replacements not already with the team aren’t ready for prime time according to the O’Brien post and a quick look at their stats supports that.

Chris Ellis and Lucas Sims have struggled and Sean Newcomb walks more batters than a crossing guard,

With Joel De La Cruz already in the rotation and Rob Whalen making his first start last night, internal options are probably down to Ryan Weber and Robert Hernandez – the pitcher formerly known as Fausto Carmona – and Weber can’t be recalled from the minors for 10 days unless someone else gets injured.

Waiver Wire Wonders ?

Who’s on the waiver wire, nobody exciting. Josh Collmenter is in DFA Limbo and could be claimed from Arizona and Clayton Richard was DFA by the Cubs but hasn’t started this year. There are a couple of relief arms out there as well but none with long man experience.

Kyle Lohse was DFA by the Rangers and elected free agency so he’s theoretically available and of course we have no idea who has been placed on revocable waivers this month.

That’s A Wrap

Right now my guess would be that Hernandez will be called up to start. He hasn’t been good enough to earn promotion but at least he’s been there and knows what’s going on.

I said when he was DFA’d that the Braves should grab Collmenter, he’s better than Hernandez and swallows innings pretty well – at least it seemed that way when he faced Atlanta.

Next: Sentimental Journey to the Ted

I’m sure Coppy is combing the wire and burning cell minutes trying to get an answer. Meanwhile I’d suggest Jeff Francoeur go practice his … well whatever he throws. Who knows when he’ll be needed.