Talking Chop

Everything was going great for Tom Glavine in his bid to return to the Atlanta Braves rotation, and then he began to feel some discomfort:

Tom Glavine felt discomfort in his pitching shoulder Sunday while batting during a rehabilitation start for Class AA Mississippi and left after two innings. The veteran pitcher said he felt it while swinging, not throwing.

"It was all from swinging, felt great before," Glavine said in a text message.

While only throwing two innings, one would think that is not enough to get sufficiently ready to go six or more on Saturday. This leads me to believe that he will be skipped in favor of another rehab outing (or two). There is another off-day on Thursday, April 23rd, which would be Glavine's turn in the rotation. This means they could keep Glavine in the minors for two rehab starts, that would prevent them from having to put him back on the DL if things didn't go well on Saturday.

My thoughts are that they will keep Glavine on a rehab assignment, giving him two more starts, assuming he feels fine to make them. As long as our bullpen doesn't get too overworked leading up to Saturday, they'll start Jorge Campillo against the Pirates on the 18th, keeping Jo-Jo Reyes as a backup plan in case the bullpen throws too much on Thursday and Friday.

Backup catcher David Ross will be rehabbing for the Rome Braves this Tuesday and Wednesday, which makes me think he might be slated to make that Thursday noon start against the Marlins in Atlanta, the first day he's eligible to come off the DL. I sure hope Clint Sammons can get into at least one game before then -- the kid only hit .400 this spring.

Left-fielder Garret Anderson is expected back for the series against the Malins. Key in on the word "expected." I certainly don't think he'll be ready, but who know.

[UPDATE - 4/13]

I wanted to add to this post by saying that I don't think there's much of a chance Tommy Hanson would get the call if Glavine can't go on Saturday. First, it's not on his regular throw day. Second, the Braves had him on such a strict pitch count during his first start that it's clear they have a plan for Hanson which doesn't include an early season call-up unless it's an absolute emergency. Third, he's not on the 40-man, and why bring him up for one start just to send him back down. When their ready to bring him up, they'll expect him to stay for good, not ping-pong between triple-A and the majors.