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As if the Atlanta Braves are listening to what the fans say, and reading what we write ... either that or they have eyes too. The official Twitter feed just announced that Livan Hernandez has been designated for assignment, and Kris Medlen has been recalled to take his place.
Livan Hernandez has been designated for assignment and Kris Medlen has been recalled from Gwinnett. Medlen will be in uniform tonight.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 15, 2012
While he was officially "designated for assignment," meaning the Braves have a week or so to trade him if they can find a sucker willing to take him, almost 95% of the time a DFA leads to the player getting released.
Livan is done. He's been pitching on borrowed time the last couple of years, and short little bullpen stints this year have amplified just how bad he can be. It was pretty clear that Fredi Gonzalez was mostly unwilling to use him in any games, having spent 13 days not pitching between his last two outings.
I'm guessing Kris Medlen comes back to the Braves in his old bullpen role, which is good. He was sent down two weeks ago, not as a punishment, but to stretch his arm out and prepare for a rotation role. That move had the effect the Braves wanted it to have of lighting a fire under Randall Delgado and Mike Minor. They have both pitched much better since then.
Medlen had his issues as a reliever, as I pointed out earlier this week. His main problem was allowing inherited runners to score -- 5 of 12 -- second worst on the team to the guy he'll be replacing, Livan.
Overall, though, there's more to work with for Medlen, and a better chance that he can be a good or even great setup reliever. Good move by the Braves -- it gets the Talking Chop seal of approval.
UPDATE 2:50pm:
Ken Rosenthal passes along this news in a tweet.
#Braves have been calling around, trying to move Livan Hernandez to make room for Medlen. Roster spot in jeopardy.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 15, 2012
Not sure if Ken just hadn't seen the Braves earlier tweet or not.