You've Not Seen the Last of Tim Hudson

Anybody who has been around sports in any capacity for any period of time can tell you this: sports are cruel.  Last night that reminder hit the Atlanta Braves and their star pitcher Tim Hudson head-on when he was lost for the season due to a broken ankle that will require surgery.  Hudson was pitching his best game of the season and had been Atlanta’s best starter for the past two months.  With one out in the bottom of the eighth inning and two runners on, what should have been a routine play turned into the heart and soul of the team lying at first base in agony, only to be followed moments later by a stretcher, a cart, and an ignominious exit.  Yes sports fans, we follow a cruel, unjust spectacle that oftentimes leaves us feeling vacant and unrewarded.

But we only have an emotional tie to the event and last night Tim Hudson had the physical reminder of the random viciousness that befalls a professional athlete.  It was a type of play that Hudson had made thousands of times in his career and is a basic that is covered in spring training relentlessly year after year.  The pitcher MUST cover first base on a ball hit to the first baseman so the first baseman can toss it to him instead of trying to outrun the runner to the base.  Last night, a perfect storm occurred on what could have been a routine play.  First, a sharply hit ball by speedy base runner Eric Young, Jr. takes a bad hop and hits first baseman Freddie Freeman in the chest and trickles away.  Even with a runner on first and second, Freeman is playing in close out of respect for Young’s speed.  Second, Hudson makes a mad dash for the bag trying to beat the speedy Young and be in position to catch a toss from Freeman.  Third, Hudson doesn’t have time to grab the bag and position himself to receive a throw.  His foot landed on the foul side of the base which he stabbed at blindly because the throw from Freeman was already on its way.  Fourth, Young arrives at the base a split second after the ball arrives but accidentally lands on Hudson’s leg; and as close-up replays have shown us many times, legs and ankles aren’t made to bend like that. 

Just like that, Hudson’s season had come crashing to an end.  It was obvious that the injury was serious when Eric Young, Jr. came running back to the base to check on Hudson and you could tell he was visibly upset that he had injured him.  (This is a good time to point out that Young did nothing wrong.  It was a freak accident  and there was nothing he could do but it is refreshing to see an opposing player have that kind of compassion toward another player.)  The whole Braves team on the field huddled around first base out of concern for Hudson, a man well-respected in the MLB community and who has the longest tenure of any current Brave and by far the most experience in the clubhouse.  You could tell the wind had gone out of the team’s sails.  Mets superstar David Wright even came out on the field to check on Hudson and stood fraternally beside Braves catcher Brian McCann until the cart arrived and Hudson was carried away.  As Huddy, the affectionate nickname bestowed upon Tim by his teammates, was loaded onto the cart, Young took a moment to apologize to Hudson and you could see Hudson telling him it was ok.  As Young walked back to the dugout, it appeared that he was wiping tears from his eyes with his jersey.  Tom Hanks may have famously said, “There’s no crying in baseball!” in A League of Their Own but it was apropos last night.  When the cart finally began to drive off the field, the New York Mets fans, a rabid fan base that is infamous for booing anyone with a pulse (they have booed Met first baseman Ike Davis so much this year that he said he feels like an away player when he plays at Citi Field), stood and respectfully cheered Hudson’s exit.  In a footnote, the Braves held on to win the game 8-2 and Hudson was credited with his fourth straight win.

There are two cruel ironies (one I will mention now, the other will come later) that come from Hudson’s season-ending injury, the first of which is getting the win last night made him 8-7 on the season and ensured that he would finish the season with a winning record for the 15^th consecutive year.  Even in 2009 when Hudson returned from Tommy John surgery, he only started seven ballgames but still finished the season with a 2-1 record.  This remarkable streak seemed to be in danger a month ago when Hudson was sitting at 4-7.  To grasp the magnitude of this feat, it has only been accomplished by one other pitcher in the history of baseball: Grover Cleveland Alexander, who never had a .500 or worse season until his 20^th  and final frame. 

Hudson is 38 years old and it is too early to say how long recovery on a surgically repaired ankle may take.  Just ask Derek Jeter; it’s not easy for a player of that age to make a speedy recovery.  He has been in Atlanta since 2005, just missing the heyday of the franchise.  In that time, he has won 113 games in nine seasons, good enough to rank him fifth on the all-time Atlanta Braves win list (not franchise wins, just since moving to Atlanta in 1966) behind one Hall of Famer (Phil Niekro) and three probable HoFers (Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and John Smoltz).  But beyond his accomplishments on the field, he is the unquestioned leader of the clubhouse and a man who is highly regarded by teammates and competitors alike.  He is a tenacious competitor on the field who rarely loses his professionalism and according to those who have played with him, he is a pleasure to be around off the field.  He and his wife are even very active in the Atlanta community and have their own foundation to serve children in need as well as being visibly active in other charity projects as well.  All in all, they just don’t make them any better than Tim Hudson, which brings me to another cruel aspect of the game: business. 

The business side of the game is a necessary evil, one that fans would like to forget about if they could but I guarantee Braves GM Frank Wren woke up this morning with many more questions than answers.  A month ago, the team was in great shape and many guys were beginning to recover from injuries.  The starting rotation was in tact and it appeared as if they may have a surplus of arms to get them through the season.  The only need was in the bullpen where three guys have fallen victim to TJ surgery but the need was not glaring.  But all that has changed in the last few weeks and has been put under a microscope after last night.  It may seem cruel to be thinking about the business side of the game so soon after a devastating injury but that is Frank Wren’s job.  Here are just some of the questions that he and Braves face moving forward.

1)      Who fills the spot in the rotation?  Well, the answer to that may just be the second cruel irony that I mentioned earlier.  Brandon Beachy was to make his final rehab start last night on his road back from TJ surgery that ended his great start to last season.  The question had been who gets bumped from the rotation.  The likely candidates were either Paul Maholm who has been atrocious in road games this year or Kris Medlen who has been unable to repeat his miraculous season of a year ago.  The Braves also have planned to insert highly touted prospect Alex Wood into the rotation at some point giving them seven arms for five slots.  One thought was to move Medlen back to the pen where is has proven he can succeed.  But now Maholm hurt his wrist and will likely be placed on the 15-day disabled list and Hudson is out for the season.  That means the most experienced starter in the rotation is Mike Minor who has made 73 career starts compared to Hudson’s 426 and Maholm’s 236.  The young rotation of Minor, Teheran, Medlen, Wood, and Beachy (combined 187 career starts) may be the way to go.  Funny how things tend to have a way of working out, isn’t it?  But there is another possibility.

2)      Are the Braves now in the trade market for a starting pitcher?  One, and possibly the only, fortunate thing about the Hudson injury was the timing.  The trade deadline is just six days away and if this injury had occurred a start or two later, a decent trade would not have been a viable option.  The major holdback is there just aren’t many quality starters, or players for that matter, on the market.  The Rangers put the ball in play pulling the trigger on the Matt Garza deal.  The three other most talked about names are Jake Peavy, Bud Norris, and Ervin Santana.  The Braves know firsthand from seeing Peavy handle them last week in Chicago that he still has very good stuff…when he’s healthy.  Health has been a concern for Peavy since being traded to the White Sox in 2009.  Peavy is also more than just a rental as he is under contract for $14 million next year.  Bud Norris, the man who would be the Astros ace if you had to declare one, has only won 34 career games and has not even had a sniff of the postseason.  Ervin Santana has been a solid pitcher over the past six or seven years but he is strictly a rental and while he does have postseason experience and has won over 100 games, is he worth giving up prospects for? 

3)      What will happen to Tim Hudson after the 2013 season?  His contract is up and it is speculated that the Braves will not be able to re-sign him especially when they have so many young arms already in their stable.  Some of that may depend on how long it takes Hudson to recover from the injury.  There will be a market for a man of his experience and talent but at what cost?  The Braves have shown in the past that they are not afraid to let veterans go to save some cash and if they are in a situation where they can only sign either Brian McCann or Hudson, I imagine they would go with McCann because of his age.  In a perfect world, Hudson would rebound flawlessly from this setback and sign a lower than market rate one-year deal to stick around in Atlanta.  If for no other reason, doing so would allow him to have a much better final image as a Brave than being carted off the field, an image we all wish we could erase.  But that happening is highly unlikely. 

One thing we do know for sure is that Hudson will handle this adversity with great class and professionalism.  In a week where there has been so much negative attention on MLB (thanks Ryan Braun and A-Rod), it would be a nice change of pace to hear more about the truly good guys of the game.  It’s a shame that it takes a freak injury for everyone to realize that there are still great guys in the league.  So, here’s to you Tim Hudson and all that you have done (and hopefully will continue to do) in an Atlanta Braves uniform and as a beacon in your community!  Good luck and God bless, #15.