Gonzo Sneering His Way to DL

Mike Gonzalez, acquired in the offseason from the Pittsburgh Pirates, will be out for the next 12-14 months after being forced to have Tommy John surgery. A third MRI finally showed an incomplete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. Gonzo looked inconsistent during the year, but once he started to let go, he was dominating. However, he was forced to leave his most recent game and was immediately DL'd.

This injury may cause the Braves to make a move...but do they really need to? The previous numbers I posted show that Tyler Yates has been a star so far. Peter Moylan is not liked by the stats, but I think the Aussie has some real talent.

We can't discount what Joey Devine can do, though I probably would not concentrate too much on him. Another name thrown around is Will Startup, who is a lefty, but Startup just does not impress me much. He's never really looked that good at Richmond, where there are many veteran hitters who force you to throw strikes. Rheal Cormier is probably in the mix as well. In three games with Richmond, he has been stretched out to 5.1 ING and hasn't looked too bad. Manny Acosta has been the closer with Richmond and has a 1.38 ERA, but the number of walks (14 in 26 innings) is pretty high.

All in all...not the best news. I'll probably look back at the deal in my next Raw Numbers or a later post here.