Braves southpaw Mike Minor has been added to the 60-day DL as he continues to struggle to return to the hill, Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Minor started the year on the DL with left shoulder issues and was shut down after suffering a setback.
Since that time, progress has not been forthcoming, according to president of baseball operations John Hart. “There has not been any measurable improvement that you want to see,” Hart said. “We’ve taken the MRIs. We are trying to stay as patient as we can and Mike is doing everything he can. At this point, things haven’t progressed.”
The 27-year-old looked like a core piece after a stellar, 200+ inning campaign back in 2013. But he struggled last year after dealing with shoulder problems to start the season, ultimately logging 145 1/3 frames of 4.77 ERA ball.
With a strong Super Two platform year boosting his earning capacity, Minor was able to lock up a hefty $5.6MM salary this year after defeating Atlanta in salary arbitration. Though the Braves will certainly be loath to give up on him, it looks increasingly plausible to imagine that Minor could follow Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy as injury-driven non-tenders.
Hart indicated that the 60-day move was based on the team’s view that Minor is not going to be available at the big league level for some time. “Right now there are still some issues there,” said Hart. “This provides us some more flexibility. We don’t see him coming back anytime soon. Hopefully the next week or 10 days we will have our arms a little bit more around what needs to be done. We felt this was the right move for the organization [and] the right thing for Mike because he’s not close to being out there ready to go.”
That’s too bad considering the braves pitching staff has been struggling.
Didn’t look good; bummer for him. Shoulders are still the part of a body teams have yet to solve.
Not the slightest bit surprised here.
I’m going out on a limb and saying that he won’t pitch an inning this year, and never pitches effectively again. Shoulder injuries are really tough
What’s with the Braves and churning out 1-2 year pitching wonders that implode due to injuries? Jurrjens and his ankle, Hanson and Minor and their shoulders, Medlen and Beachy and their elbows, and all within the past five years! Makes me feel like a big time defeatist when it comes to pitchers and inevitable injuries.
Jurrjens had more problems than just his ankle—unless that caused his ERA to skyrocket. He’s in the Rockies organization now, but with just 6 IP in 2 starts this year and on the DL with the Isotopes.
BTW, Brandon Beachy is signed through this year with a 2016 team option, but if the option is declined (since he will have barely above 5 years of service time), he would have to be tendered a new contract.
With Jurrjens, it was a knee issue.