Shae Simmons undergoes successful Tommy John surgery

Things have been relatively quiet on the Atlanta Braves front recently. After the whirlwind of trades, trades, free agent signings and, you guessed it, more trades, and just a handful of days removed from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training, the news Braves fans have been seeing has now turned from disappointing moves to disappointing predictions – a 28th out of 30 power ranking from the four-letter, long-shot World Series odds, etc. But, all of those, bad moves and bad news seem fine compared to the news the Braves released this afternoon.

Did you hear that? That’s a metaphorical bomb being dropped on Turner Field. Guess we don’t have to worry about demolition costs, now.

Just kidding. Partially. Shae Simmons made his MLB debut with the Braves last year in a 9-5 Atlanta win on the final day of May, where he struck out Jarrod Saltalamacchia. He proceeded to throw 21.2 innings across 26 games, recording a decision in three games (1-2) and recording a 2.91 ERA before being shutdown for the final two months of 2014.

There was a lot of excitement surrounding Simmons when he was called up from Mississippi, and many people thought he’d become the sure-fire set-up man for Craig Kimbrel in 2015, but instead, he’ll be spending the season watching and rehabbing.

I guess, if there’s a silver lining, its that this doesn’t totally derail the Braves’ season outlook, and lets be honest, if 2017 is the target date for the next competitive year, its better Simmons undergoes this now and has time to work his way back than later.

What was your reaction when you heard the Shae Simmons news? Does this have any drastic impact on the 2015 year? Let us know in a comment below or on twitter @ATLBeatBlog.