Hampton will pitch through injury
Hampton has a tear in his meniscus and will require surgery in the offseason, but for now he’s going to try to pitch on it. This is a very bad idea. I doubt he’ll be effective, and there’s an excellent chance his mechanics will get messed up, leading to injury, total ineffectiveness, or worse. The Braves say they’ll be careful.
Capellan will start, on three days’ rest, in Hampton’s place on Thursday.
Starting Capellan, who threw 111 pitches, on short rest is a bad idea. He’s the future; don’t risk it with an 8 game lead; use Smith or another minor leaguer or even give Cruz a 70-90 pitch start.
Pitching Hampton risking further injury would be a bad idea, but maybe if we can get a complete knee blowout and a resulting season long DL trip …
This is a bad idea. I’ve had a torn meniscus 3 times. I tried to ‘run through’ the first one and screwed myself up more by attempting to compensate for the bad knee. Hampton’s injury is on his back or driving leg. I cannot possibly fathom how he can do that unless they shoot him up before every game. I know that we’d probably like having a veteran pitcher for our final regular season and playoff runs but the Braves have to think long term. Especially since we are stuck with ole Mikey for a while with his big contract.
I can’t imagine that a single start on short rest is going to be any sort of problem, unless Bobby pushes him too hard in the start. I’d be more worried that he’d be ineffective.
re: Capellan on short rest
I also think it’s a bad idea:
2002 – recuperating from Tommy John surgery
2003 – 64 innings
2004 – 145 innings
Then 111 pitches, then a start on 3 days rest? I hope Cox doesn’t let him go more than 75 pitches or so, regardless of how well he’s doing.
FWIW:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-braves-move&prov=ap&type=lgns
Braves purchase Dan meyer’s contract; I wonder if he’ll start instead?
Oh hell yes!
Its Dan Meyer time baby!
Yes! Start him!
(and yes, I like Meyer alot)