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Back when Mike Minor was shut down for the entire 2015 season due to shoulder surgery, it was widely assumed that Minor had probably thrown his last pitch as an Atlanta Brave. As it turns out, this is far from being the case as it appears that the Braves are planning on bringing Minor back for the 2016 season.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Braves?src=hash">#Braves</a> indicate Minor likely to be brought back in 2016, though nothing certain.</p>— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) <a href="https://twitter.com/DOBrienAJC/status/633428247691182080">August 18, 2015</a></blockquote>
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In addition, Minor has started throwing and will be throwing off of a mound soon. Of course, he won't be coming back this season, but if the Braves plan on bringing him back next season then it's good to see that he's making strides towards being healthy again. Hopefully, there are no urethra surgeries to stop him this time around (I still shudder when I think about that).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Braves?src=hash">#Braves</a> Mike Minor has been throwing for a while now, is expected to throw off mound for first time in about 3 weeks.</p>— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) <a href="https://twitter.com/DOBrienAJC/status/633427914495647744">August 17, 2015</a></blockquote>
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There's also another side to this: This could just be a way for the Braves to build up his trade value for next season. Minor's next arbitration probably won't go as well as it did last season, so we could see Minor get moved via trade at some time in 2016. In order for that to happen, his trade value's gotta go back up somehow, so it makes sense that the Braves wouldn't be done with him just yet.
Either way, it appears that there's a good chance that have, in fact, not seen the last of Mike Minor as an Atlanta Brave. This is definitely an interesting development, and it'll be a point of intrigue to see what the Braves do with Minor going forward.
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In other quick injury-related news, Manny Banuelos has started throwing again, and could return in September for the roster expansion.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Manny Banuelos has resumed throwing. The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Braves?src=hash">#Braves</a> are hoping he can fill some innings in September</p>— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) <a href="https://twitter.com/mlbbowman/status/633432296364740608">August 18, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Banuelos has been out since late July with a bone spur in his elbow, and you know that injury news is getting bleak around here (when it comes to pitchers, at least) when a bone spur was considered "good news" since it wasn't anything UCL-related. So, it's good to see that Banuelos may at least get a little bit more experience under his belt before the season ends.