Paco Rodriguez Undergoes TJ Surgery, May Miss Entire ’16 Season
Paco Rodriguez came to the Atlanta Braves via a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers in late July that sent Alex Wood, Jim Johnson, Luis Avilan and top prospect Jose Peraza.
The trade with Los Angeles also netted the Atlanta Braves Hector Olivera, their prospective third-baseman of the future. Paco Rodriguez did not appear this season with the Atlanta Braves, but saw time with the Dodgers earlier this season before succumbing to injury.
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A report came out earlier this week that Paco Rodriguez underwent Tommy John surgery and will miss most or all of the 2016 season. Though he did not appear with the Atlanta Braves this season, this affects the club’s plans going into the offseason.
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GM John Coppolella and President of Baseball Operations John Hart mentioned last week that the Atlanta Braves will focus on overhauling the bullpen going this offseason. In 2015, the Braves’ bullpen was the most significant flaw in the makeup of the ballclub; and the absence of Paco Rodriguez creates a void in the relief corps that the Braves thought they would have addressed going into next season.
Before missing the rest of the 2015 season, Paco Rodriguez had a 2.61 ERA in 18 appearances for the Los Angeles Dodgers, including a .214 BAA against right-handed hitters. Though Paco Rodriguez is a lefty, he was a similar pitcher this season to former Braves reliever James Russell, who struggled against lefties but pitched more effectively against righties.
Still, left-handed relievers are a dime-a-dozen, and Paco Rodriguez was effective in when healthy this past season. So what do the Atlanta Braves do with the news of Rodriguez’s injury? Well, the front-office now has to find an effective left-handed reliever.
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Internally, LHP Matt Marksberry is an option. Despite having 5.01 ERA in 31 appearances this season for the Atlanta Braves, Marksberry performed well against left-handed hitters, owning a .170 BAA. Marksberry is an effective lefty specialist, but for some reason, manager Fredi Gonzalez saw fit to use the rookie LHP against righties, where they averaged .361 against him.
Free agency is most likely the best option for the Braves to address the issue of left-handed relief in the bullpen. Free Agents such as Randy Choate and former Atlanta Brave Eric O’Flaherty are good options to help solidify the Braves’ relief corps. Though Paco Rodriguez did not pitch for the Braves this season, his absence gives the club one more problem to worry about this offseason.