Should the Atlanta Braves keep or trade Julio Teheran?
By Clint Manry
It was Julio Teheran’s turn on Monday to get his first Florida start for the Atlanta Braves. With a number of fans wanting him traded, how was his performance and should the Braves still be trying to move him?
On Monday the Atlanta Braves had a Spring Training game against the Houston Astros, a matchup consisting of Houston’s lefty Wade Miley and Atlanta’s Julio Teheran. With the current soreness epidemic going on in the Braves starting rotation at the moment, the decision for Monday’s starter wasn’t made until Monday morning – with 28-year-old Julio Teheran getting the ball.
The Braves would go on to lose on Monday (3-4), even though the team accrued 14 hits compared to the Astros five. The Braves would hit two home runs on Monday afternoon, including a solo shot from Ronald Acuna Jr, (very nice to see that!).
https://twitter.com/Braves/status/1102661531618213889?s=19
All in all, it was a typical example of a game where the Braves failed to move runners over, as the team left 11 runners stranded and were 1 for 14 with runners-in-scoring-position. Several regulars got the start on Monday, including Freddie Freeman (1-2, K):
- (CF) Ender Inciarte (1-3)
- (DH) Adam Duvall (1-2, BB)
- (LF) Ronald Acuna Jr. (1-3, HR / RBI / K)
- (C) Brian McCann (1-2)
- (SS) Charlie Culberson (1-3, K)
But I wanna focus on one player specifically, Julio Teheran.
Fan sentiment of Teheran has been a roller coaster ride for him over the past several years.
At one time the guy was the “ace” of the staff, a consistent Opening Day starter for the Atlanta Braves. While he has never put up Cy Young numbers, he did finish fifth in the NL Rookie of the Year vote in 2013 , finishing 14-8 with a 3.20 ERA and 170 strikeouts in 185.2 innings pitched.
As we all know, over the last two seasons Teheran has drastically trended downward into an odd funk of performances that really haven’t warranted a top-of-the-rotation position. In short, he’s often been either great or terrible, but trending to more of the latter.
His last three seasons fWAR is pretty glaring, starting in 2016: 3.2 fWAR, 1.1 fWAR, and 0.7 fWAR.
Teheran’s run prevention was actually a little better in 2018, as he went from a 2017 ERA of 4.49 (4.95 FIP), to a 3.94 ERA (4.83 FIP). But the fact of the matter is, his value has continued to plummet.
Regardless, whether you love the way he pitches or not, he’s been a Brave now for eight seasons, and is a pretty reputable player among his peers. At the end of the day, he is most likely going to start the 2019 season with the Braves.
With all of that being said, let’s look at his start from Monday and see what his current status is going into the regular season…