With Wednesday night’s news of Braves closer Rafael Soriano’s elbow, the organization can take a sigh of relief that their already strained bullpen is on the verge of slowly piecing back together. An MRI to the right elbow of Soriano showed that there was no ligament damage to the same arm that had received Tommy John’s surgery in 2004, which sidelined the closer for the majority of both the 2004 and 2005 seasons.
Although it is unclear as to when the return of Soriano will be until he completes further workout sessions, it is an established fact that he will not miss any significant time and can soon return to the bullpen which has lost some of its key figures, such as Peter Moylan (the ‘thunder from down under’) who posted an impressive 1.80 ERA in 80 appearances last season. However, it is believed by many in the Braves’ community that the team will be without Moylan for the remainder of the season.
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With a somewhat forgotten player Mike Gonzalez, who put up good numbers before being sidelined early last season, returning to the lineup as soon as late May, the bullpen will be continuing to rely on the work of Will Ohman (13.2 IP, 3.29 ERA), Blaine Boyer (20.2 IP, 4.35 ERA), and fill-in closer Manny Acosta (15.2 IP, 3.45 ERA, 2 SV). The three had a somewhat rocky start, but have seemed to settle down recently.
The announcement that John Smoltz would return as a reliever will give the bullpen needed reliability, but it will remain unclear as to whether or not Smoltz will have a positive impact as a late-inning pitcher. While the news is good for the bullpen, it leaves the starting rotation with the familiar problem it faced last year, where the 3-5 starters were a crapshoot on the mound. With the impressive start Jair Jurrjens has had (4-2, 2.84 ERA), it gives the rotation a sound 1-3, as long as Tom Glavine (0-1. 4.50 ERA) can begin to perform as expected. Tim Hudson (5-2, 2.90 ERA) is living up to the deemed ace of the staff title, continuing to provide as a great anchor at the one spot.
Filling the 4 and 5 spots is left in the hands of Jo-Jo Reyes (1-0, 1.69 ERA) and possibly Jeff Bennett (0-1, 1 SV, 3.90 ERA), Chuck James (depending on whether James can pitch well in AAA) or Mike Hampton, although even optimists find it hard to imagine Hampton being injury-free once he returns from the 15 day DL.
Once Soriano and Gonzalez return to pen, along with the new addition of Smoltz, the bullpen should return to a more stable condition. The key thing to watch for is if the starting rotation can eat up enough innings to the point where the bullpen won’t get too overworked as was the case at the beginning of the season. With the Braves’ bats starting to come around, Atlanta needs its pitching to do the job if they hope to be true contenders in the East.
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