Tim Hudson Makes First Rehab Start, Will He Be a Brave in 2010?

On Sunday, Tim Hudson made his first rehab start for Class A Myrtle Beach. He threw two scoreless innings, striking out two, and allowing no hits. Barring any setbacks, Hudson will be ready to come off of the disabled list sometime in late August.

This presents the Braves with two intriguing questions that they will have to answer quickly.

First, which of the Braves' six starting pitchers will go the bullpen? Despite his recent success on the mound, Kenshin Kawakami is the most obvious candidate to make the move. The only other possibility would seem to be Tommy Hanson. If the Braves are out of the race by the start of September, they could elect to move him to the bullpen to lessen his workload through the end of the season.

The more pressing question the Braves will have to answer is whether or not to exercise Hudson's club option for 2010. The option will cost the Braves $12 million and has a $1 million buy-out.

This basically makes the next two months of baseball a tryout for Hudson. What he needs to show is that he can perform to the level necessary to warrant a large contract.

Barring a major setback, the Braves seem likely to pick up his option for next season. After all, where else can they get another starting pitcher of his caliber at that price?

Before the start of this season, Oliver Perez signed a three-year deal with the Mets for $12 million a year and is a career 57-62 pitcher with a 4.50 ERA. Hudson sports a career 146-77 record with a 3.48 ERA. Even if this next season's market is weaker than last season, the Braves still have great value in picking up Hudson's option.

There are two main issues with picking Hudson up next season.

The $11 million extra that he is owed takes away from the Braves ability to acquire a hitter and makes it more difficult for them to keep Mike Gonzalez and/or Rafael Soriano, both free agents at year's end. Certainly the Braves need to keep one, if not both of them.

The second issue that the Braves will have to deal with is potentially having too much starting pitching.

Keeping Hudson on for 2010 would leave the Braves with six starting pitchers going into next season. This presents them with the option of trading one of them for a hitter. In a weak pitching market, both Javier Vazquez and Kawakami should be able to land a hitter from a pitching-starved team, freeing up extra money to resign Soriano and/or Gonzalez

In my opinion, Hudson will come back at the end of August and show he can be dominant in 2010. His success will force the Braves to bring him back for 2010. Ultimately, this will mean that by the start of next year either Vazquez or Kawakami will be gone and the Braves will have the big bat they need to make a serious run in 2010.