Paul Maholm Sent Back To Atlanta For MRI On Elbow; Wood Skipping Next Start

Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

In the latest bad news for the injury cursed 2013 Braves squad, it was announced today that Paul Maholm has been sent back to Atlanta with some soreness in his elbow. He will be getting an MRI on the elbow and this almost certainly means that he will not be on the Braves playoff roster. In addition, it’s quite possible that we will never see Maholm pitch in a Braves uniform again. I feel bad for Paul if he gets some bad news on his elbow because he is a free agent after this season and that would be an awful way to start free agency. Good luck, Paul. David Hale will make his Major League debut Friday against the Padres in Maholm’s rotation spot. Hale is a Georgia native who will turn 27 in a few weeks. He was 6-9 for Gwinnett this season, compiling a 3.22 ERA in 114.2 innings. He struck out 77 and walked 36.
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It was also announced that Freddy Garcia will make a spot start tomorrow in place of Alex Wood. Settle down though, folks, there is nothing wrong with Alex, and they are just skipping a start like they have done with Mike Minor and Julio Teheran in the past couple of weeks. Essentially, this tells us that Alex Wood will, without a doubt, be the Braves #4 starter in the playoffs. They are following the same path that they used for Minor and Teheran by skipping a start to give them some extra rest in case playoff innings pile up. I would not be surprised to see Medlen also skipped before the end of the regular season to give all four of the Braves playoff starters some extra rest.