Sports Page Atlanta

Do not adjust your monitors, this is not a re-post, Mike Hampton is injured
again. Let me give you a second to recover from the shock…

…okay, now on to the story. Mike Hampton left his rehab start in AA
Mississippi Wednesday night in the second inning with a strained groin.
Hampton initially injured himself in the first inning, but tried to “tough
it out” to make it through the second. Let’s give him credit, at least he
made it through warm ups. Hamptons final line…2IP, 1ER, 1BB and 2K.

This is when we, as baseball fans, wish the NFL Players Association was
running the union. Oh how we all yearn for un-guaranteed contracts, for we
would never be dealing with Mike Hampton anymore. As it is, we are stuck
with him. But, he needs to be cut. It’s apparent that he isn’t going to
pitch for the Braves ever again. As it is now, he’s impeding the
development of a AA pitcher. We are going to have to pay him anyways. Let
him go, write the check and close this miserable chapter in Atlanta Braves
history.

I know it will come as a shock to nobody, but Mike Hampton’s rehab from eleventy-billion injuries over the last two plus years hit yet another minor snag Wednesday, as the oft-injured lefty pulled himself out of a AAA rehab start for Richmond in the fourth inning in Durham, N.C. Hampton said that he felt his left pectoral muscle, which caused his most recent journey to the disabled list before his first start in 2 1/2 years, twinged a little bit, and that he’d rather be safe than sorry. That bodes the question, is Hampton playing it too safe?

There was a lot of hype surrounding Hampton’s first start of the season. Then, it all came crashing down just a few pitches into his warm up session in the bullpen. Pectoral strain. Another trip to the DL. More frustration for Hampton, the Braves, and us fans. I had more than a few people tell me that, following Hampton’s late scratch early in the season, that if they were coaching, they would more-or-less force Hampton to play. It seems like Hampton’s injuries are a bit ticky-tack. I, for one, am not going to sit behind my keyboard and pretend to know how Hampton feels and what he should do. However, I am fed up with it. And, I have a sinking suspicion that the Braves might be getting to that point too.

If Hampton can’t play, he can’t play. The constant false sense of hope that his never-ending rehabilitation gives the Braves is hurting them in a sense. As much as the Braves say that they aren’t depending on him, they are to some degree. Considering the rash sense of injuries, they need him now. And, he is again letting them down. It’s now time for Hampton to “blank” or get off the pot. He’s either a baseball player, or he’s not. And, from the outsider’s point of view, it appears that he doesn’t want to be a baseball player anymore.

As you all know by now Mike Hampton is back on the disabled list. Last night as he was warming up he strained his pectoral muscle. The southpaw will be placed on the 15-day DL retroactive to March 30th. Jo-Jo Reyes will be called up from Richmond.

Hampton’s last start happened on August 19, 2005…

Here are the top 3 pitchers in the majors in games pitched since Hampton’s last start…

1. Bob Howry - 185
2. Chad Qualls - 183
3. Jon Rauch - 182

Former Brave Tyler Yates has thrown the most for Atlanta in that stretch, taking the mound in 131 games.

Tim Hudson has started the most games for the Braves in that period, making the start 78 times and throwing 508 2/3 innings.

Those of you cynics out there taking bets on how many pitches it would take before Mike Hampton got hurt probably didn’t think it would be zero, when you saw his name penciled into the start Thursday vs. the Pirates.  However, that’s how many pitches it took…zero.  Hampton strained his left pectoral muscle while warming up in the bullpen 17 minutes before his first scheduled start in more than two years.  Jeff Bennett got the emergency start in his place and pitched nicely, giving up only two runs over four innings.  Hampton will be re-evaluated on Friday.

Mike Hampton didn’t make his scheduled spring start on Wednesday, but he did pitch a four inning simulation game. And the best news to come from that simulated start was that Hampton felt no pain in his tweaked groin or anywhere else, for that matter. The Braves staff feel he’s ready to move forward.

“I’m looking forward to pitching and enjoying my next start,” said Hampton, who strained his right groin Friday in the second inning of his second spring start. “I didn’t have any tweaks [Wednesday], nothing going on.”

Barring any setbacks, Hampton is expected to make his next scheduled start Monday against the St. Louis Cardinals in Jupiter, Fla. Buddy Carlyle started in his place in Wednesday night’s game against Cleveland.

I heard an interesting statistic yesterday about the back of the rotation for the Braves last season. The guys in the #4 and #5 spot in 2007 (Buddy Carlyle, Lance Cormier, Anthony Lerew, Jo-Jo Reyes and Mark Redman) were a combined 22-36 with a 6.37 ERA. That’s a whole lot of mediocrity. Looking at those stats, it means the Braves, in those 58 games, had to overcome more than a six run deficit to win. That just can’t happen in 2008 if the Braves hope to make it to post-season play.

So, let’s take a look at the contenders for the back of the rotation in 2008. It’s an almost certainty that John Smoltz, Tim Hudson and Tom Glavine will be the #1 through #3 starters. That leaves six pitchers fighting it out for the final two spots. I’ll place them in order of likelihood to earn the last two rotation spots.

1. Mike Hampton - Yes, he tweaked his groin and is going to miss his scheduled start tomorrow. But, he’s going to throw a simulated game and even though the injury scares most people, Hampton really is putting together a mighty nice spring. He hasn’t given up an earned run and has two strikeouts and a walk in 3.1 innings. If he gets back on track and only misses his next start, keeps pitching the way he’s been so far, he’ll win the #4 spot.
2. Jair Jurrjens - There has been as much hype surrounding Jurrjens lately, than any other Braves pitcher. He’s been electric so far with a 2-0 record in three starts. His ERA is 1.00 and he has four strikeouts to only two walks in nine innings of work (the most by any Braves hurler). It probably wouldn’t hurt Jurrjens to get a little more seasoning pitching in Richmond, but if he’s throwing like this, he’ll make it impossible for the Braves to send him down.
3. Buddy Carlyle - Carlyle is 1-0, but his ERA is a little on the high side (5.14) after getting touched up by Cincinnati last week. Up until that point he was pitching close to flawlessly. One thing to be optimistic about is Carlyle’s strikeout to walk ratio. In seven innings of work he has logged seven strikeouts and zero walks. It’s ratio’s like that that make pitching coaches very happy.
4. Jo-Jo Reyes - In two starts, Reyes has a 4.50 ERA as he’s given up an earned run in each of his two inning mound appearances this spring. A little troubling is his five walks in only four innings of work. He does have five strikeouts, but needs to get a handle on his control and bring the walks down to grab that 5th rotation spot.
5. Chuck James - James hasn’t pitched at all this spring, and isn’t schedule to pitch until later in March. Unless he gets going very soon, his chances of a rotation spot, and even making the ballclub are in jeopardy.
6. Jeff Bennett - Bennett is in the same boat as James. He hasn’t pitched yet this spring, and is way behind the four competitors who have.

photo credit: too_thickskinned

The Braves are on SportsSouth right now as they face the Cardinals. I’m not going to be posting any play-by-play but news just broke that Mike Hampton feels well enough to pitch on Wednesday.

He’s either going to pitch in the Braves Grapefruit League game against Cleveland or he’ll pitch in a simulated game. It all depends on how he feels when he gets to the ballpark tomorrow.

Peter Gammons’ Spring Training Report

This video isn’t entirely about the Atlanta Braves, but starting at the 2:42 mark Gammons talks about the chances for the Braves to do well in 2008, even saying that the, “Braves can be really good”. He had some very positive things to say about Chipper Jones, Mike Hampton and Jeff Francoeur.