Cristhian Martinez Has Shoulder Surgery, Out For The Season

Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

The season is over for Braves long relief man Cristhian Martinez, and it sure has been an odd season to say the least.

Martinez had shoulder surgery yesterday from Dr James Andrews to repair some fraying of the labrum and rotator cuff.  That will end the season for “The Lisp”, but he SHOULD be back and ready to go sometime around Spring Training next season if all goes well.

Martinez only made two appearances for the Braves this season before taking some time off for shoulder discomfort. He tried to start a rehab assignment and still felt the discomfort in his shoulder and went to Andrews for a second opinion.  I’m not sure why this wasn’t done the first time, but its all water under the bridge now.  The second odd thing about this is that Fredi Gonzalez didn’t even know that he was having surgery yesterday. Fredi just thought that he was going down there for another opinion on his shoulder, not to have immediate surgery. I don’t know about you guys, but that seems a bit odd to me. Either Fredi was left out of the loop, or the Braves simply didn’t know what was going on, and I’m not sure which one is worse.

Martinez becomes the THIRD regular member of the Braves bullpen that has been lost to season ending surgery this season following Jonny Venters and Eric O’Flaherty.  If the Braves need more bullpen help this season, they are going to have to make a trade, because there isn’t really much left in the farm system that can help the team right now.