Braves GM John Coppolella says lefty Andrew McKirahan will miss the entire 2016 season after tearing an elbow ligament earlier this week, Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. As we noted earlier today, McKirahan appears likely to have Tommy John surgery. If he does, it will be his second time having the procedure, having also undergone it in 2012.
McKirahan went from the Cubs to the Marlins in the Rule 5 Draft prior to last season, then headed to Atlanta on a waiver claim. He missed half of 2015 due to a PED suspension, but was a regular in the Braves’ bullpen down the stretch. For the year, he posted a 5.93 ERA in 27 1/3 innings, although he had 7.2 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 and threw a fastball that reached into the mid-90s. As Cunningham notes, McKirahan already faced an uphill battle in making the Braves’ Opening Day roster this season, since the organization has a variety of potential bullpen lefties, including veterans Ian Krol and Alex Torres along with Matt Marksberry, Hunter Cervenka and 2015 Rule 5 pick Evan Rutckyj.
McKirahan is a good buy low piece for teams looking to take a chance on a lotto ticket type guy.
Did the braves release him? Lotto ticket? Cmon Phil- kid might be a cheater, but left hand relievers throwing mid 90’s don’t grow on trees. The braves don’t mind TJ arms- heck at this point Andrews might need to build an ATL clinic. Save that crap traffic to Bham. He will have a lot better shot post all star break 2017 after we trade grilli/Johnson and meet the rule 5 on winkler/rucktyj. No need to release him since he won’t hold up a roster spot.
I understand what you are saying, but the fact still remains that since his selection in the Rule V Draft he has been handed a suspension, and now is on to his second tommy john surgery. I also should have clarified that I was calling for a trade, not a release– that is my bad,
Another thing that I based this claim off of was the fact that the Braves are loaded with lefties: Krol, Marksberry, Kinnman, Alex Otero, Rutckyj, Torres (looking at 2017) on top of all of the lefty starters that may not necessarily make it as starters. Therefore, by the time he’s ready to get back, there simply won’t be room for him.
He makes for an interesting case, however, I can see a team coveting him at a low-ish rate due to all of those variables.
Might be the only lotto ticket that costs you if you win. The baggage he brings with him now
He doesn’t really have any baggage. Almost no one remembers guys that get suspended before they are famous. Rafael Betancourt played a pretty big role on my favorite team for several years and I was unaware that he one of the first ever suspensions for PEDs. I don’t think many other people knew either and it really doesn’t affect my perception of him now. McKirahan served his sentence and now we must move on and stop holding it against him.
That 2015 Rule 5 pick has a somewhat troublesome name. It looks like someone started typing it and then passed out on their keyboard. If he is actually successful in the big leagues, it will be fun watching all the different misspellings of his name. A Grudzielanek or Mientkiewicz for the next generation.
I completely misread this headline – thought it said Andrew McCutchen – what a blow for the Pirates!