How long til Braddock gets called up? -- Latest: Braddock Up Sunday, Stetter Down, Gamel to 60 day DL

[Postseason2006]

I do not want to see Braddock up until Macha is gone. Pitching Coffey in blowouts shows this guy is absolutely gone when it comes to BP management.

[YoungGeezy]

I'm not overly concerned about Macha and Braddock, if you remember Macha and Peterson developed some very nice major league pitchers from the time they broke into the majors to the time they became stars in the AL. It is position players he has never had a good connection with or known how to handle very well.

[thablingster]

In the post game news conference Macha just said Braddock will be up tomorrow. Considering the state of the staff, they'll probably need him.

[trwi7]

Stetter down to make room for Braddock.

[hawing]

Here is a link from Adam McCalvy.

[thablingster]

Unless Braddock is flying charter he's probably going to show up halfway through the game. He can make the big Kevin Mench WWE-esque entrance.

 

After someone remarked in the comments section of McCalvy's blog about how it is odd that Braddock could make it tomorrow but a starter couldn't I found the earliest flight into MSP was exactly at 1:02pm. Too late for a SP, but if Braddock makes it to the stadium by the 4th inning ala Gerut today he could still play.

[battlekow]

There still needs to be a move made to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.

[TooLiveBrew]

And that's yet another reason why swapping out Stetter for Braddock makes little sense. Just DFA Suppan already & be done with it.

[Postseason2006]

I want Braddock up but I have little doubt on what poor starting pitching does to our relievers. How long before Braddock is out with arm trouble?

[thablingster]

Adam McCalvy tweeted the expected, Gamel moved to the 60-day DL to make room for Braddock.

[TheCrew07]

Adam McCalvy tweeted the expected, Gamel moved to the 60-day DL to make room for Braddock.

That's so dumb. It made sense with Riske because we're on the hook for his salary regardless, but why are we extending Gamel's service time just to delay a roster decision?

[BrewCrewForever]

Adam McCalvy tweeted the expected, Gamel moved to the 60-day DL to make room for Braddock.

That's so dumb. It made sense with Riske because we're on the hook for his salary regardless, but why are we extending Gamel's service time just to delay a roster decision?

Because it seems this organization clearly hates Mat Gamel.

 

I kid, but with the the way they have handled him during his short career it sure seems that way sometimes.

[jimmyjeromehardy7]

Wouldn't the 60 days for Gamel be up soon anyway at the end of May or early June and so he can still be activated and sent down.

[PeaveyFury]

Wouldn't the 60 days for Gamel be up soon anyway at the end of May or early June and so he can still be activated and sent down.

 

60 days would be June 3, if my math is correct.

 

Because it seems this organization clearly hates Mat Gamel.

 

This move would actually be beneficial to Gamel, depending on when he would have been activated otherwise.

[DHonks]

What's frustrating to me is that today is now an Estrada/Parra/bullpen day. We could have called up Cappy and prevented the need to have a bullpen day. We need a starter, and we called up a reliever capable of going 2 innings.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Cappy himself admitted he wasn't ready and agreed to extend his call up or release date. The guy is coming off a second major surgery, why rush it? They have an off day tomorrow...no reason to rush Cappy.

[1992casey]

why are we extending Gamel's service time just to delay a roster decision?

 

Gamel can't be activated/demoted until he's deemed to be recovered. Part of determining that he's recovered would probably involve a few days of rehab play. Nothing would stop him from rehabbing before the 60 days are up--if he's actually ready to rehab before June 3rd.

[PeaveyFury]

if he's actually ready to rehab before June 3rd.

 

Gamel actually began his rehab this past Thursday at Brevard.

[logan82]

Gamel will have 172 days of service time on about May 24th. Unless he was going to be called up today and optioned back down, he was likely to have a year regardless.

[CheezWizHed]

So, lets get back to Braddock...

 

How long will he stay? Do you think it was due to a shortage in the BP? He is on the 40-man now, and won't be removed...

[TheCrew07]

Well Riske is back and pitching, though not exactly setting the world on fire but his rehab clock is ticking even though he's on the 60 day DL, he only gets a month until they have to decide what to do with him. Hawkins is still going to figure in the mix someplace. Suppan is still on the roster with that contract, as is Vargas. I'm not sure Estrada is an answer any place yet, but I am high on Axford and Braddock for obvious reasons. If one of them stays my guess is Axford, if 2 stay I would personally keep Braddock, but I can see an argument for keeping Estrada as the long man. The pen doesn't have a LOOGY anymore (not that I care about LOOGYs per my other posts on the subject) but my only reservation with keeping Braddock around is that Macha would consider using him as a such, when he's a good enough to pitcher to be able to do more than that. I'm into relievers that can give multiple innings, I think those reliever give a manager the most possible flexibility.

 

I would be upset but I could see Riske coming back to the big club instead of getting released which would obviously bump one of the young guys back to AAA as well. I realize Melvin committed the multiple years to Hawkins but in my perfect world I would release Hawkins (once he's off the DL), Suppan, Vargas, and Riske just keep all of the younger pitchers. However it's easy for me to say that from where I'm sitting, especially considering how I currently view pitching and the organziation, when I never wanted to spend money on or acquire those players in the first place. I realize I'm incredibly biased on this topic, even if Hawkins hadn't given up a run all year I'd probably be willing to part ways with him, I disliked the signing that much. However I realize it's just not going to happen. Chances are that all of the veterans will still stay and the recent call-ups will head back down.

 

As an aside. Axford really impressed me yesterday. None of his breaking stuff was working early in the inning, it was clear he didn't have his sharp slider and he was hanging everything. Somehow though he managed to get 2 outs with basically just his FB, then finally in those last 2 ABs he got a good slider for a called strike, then that slider for the strike out to end the game. I really like the high FB for a K, Sheets used it a ton in 2004, and I loved that Axford was climbing the ladder to get hitters to swing through rather than trying getting them to chase the slider out of the zone. I think there's a time and place for both, but for some reason I've always very fond of challenging hitters up and in, unfortunately it just doesn't seem to happen much anymore.

[battlekow]

ESPN's Jason Grey on Braddock (Insider link):

When healthy, Braddock possesses an extremely live arm; his fastball is

usually in the 92-95 mph range and can occasionally touch higher. He can

work his fastball on both sides of the plate and also go upstairs if

needed, and the pitch appears to get on top of batters pretty quickly.

He couples that with a nasty mid-80s slider that is a definite strikeout

pitch. He also has a changeup from his starting days that he doesn't

use much anymore but will still bust out occasionally on a right-handed

batter to keep them off his other two pitches. It's definitely a

closer-worthy arsenal.