As if the Braves couldn’t do anything else to make me want to dislike them more, they had to go and designate for assignment (cut) pretty much my favorite pitcher in the world, Jonny Venters.
Now, I understand crystal clear the logic behind this decision, and if it were like Antonio Bastardo getting cut by the Phillies or Sergio Romo getting cut by the Giants, I wouldn’t have given two shits, but it happening to Jonny Venters, and I’m now a little emotional about it.
Venters was hurt. And then got hurt again. In the worst kind of way, tearing a ligament in his elbow, while he was already rehabilitating from a torn ligament in his elbow. Long story short, he had to undergo the dreaded, career-altering Tommy John surgery for the third time, after he hadn’t yet fully recovered from Tommy John #2. Very few pitchers come back from Tommy John surgery twice, and even fewer return from a third. From the business sense, it’s obvious and logical to why the Braves had to release Jonny Venters, and once again, I say that if it were anyone other than Jonny Venters, I probably wouldn’t have cared.