29-04-2019, 07:26 AM
ATLANTA (AP) — New York Mets announcer Ron Darling says he will have surgery next week to remove a “large mass in my chest” and hopes to return to the broadcast booth in May.The longtime SNY analyst made the announcement Saturday night during the telecast of the Mets-Braves game in Atlanta.The 58-year-old Darling said a series of tests revealed the mass. He said doctors have told him that “if there are no complications I should be back on air talking baseball sometime next month.”Darling didn’t provide further details on the diagnosis. The Mets said doctors had been monitoring Darling over the past few months.The Mets said SNY studio analyst and former Mets player Todd Zeile will fill in for Darling during his medical leave.The former pitcher was sued this month by former Mets teammate Lenny Dykstra over a passage in Darling’s new book that accused the outfielder of directing racist comments toward Boston starter Oil Can Boyd during the 1986 World Series. The Braves don’t have a major pitching problem right now Curtis Granderson Jersey , but signing the former Houston Astros hurler could go a long way towards helping them in the divisional title defense."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Talking Chop User’s GuideTalking Chop PodcastAround the NL EastBaseball Analysis PrimerAtlanta should look to Dallas for some helpNew,73commentsThe Braves don’t have a major pitching problem right now, but signing the former Houston Astros hurler could go a long way towards helping them in the divisional title defense.ESTShareTweetShareShareAtlanta should look to Dallas for some helpTroy Taormina-USA TODAY SportsThursday was a day that the Braves would likely want to forget. It started with Liberty Media publishing their financial reports from 2018 for the Braves and the fanbase reacted in a totally rational and measured manner. Then there was news of Bryce Harper going to the Phillies, which is just terrific. As if that wasn’t enough, there were reports that both Mike Foltynewicz and Kevin Gausman were dealing with soreness — Folty’s dealing with it in his elbow while Gausman’s shoulder is sore. You really don’t need me to tell you that that having two of your three starters dealing with that type of thing in February is a little concerning. It’s not a huge deal right now but it’s still something that will be in the back of everybody’s mind as we get closer to the season starting. It’s clearly not a big deal since the Braves aren’t too worried about this, as both Mark Bowman and Dave O’Brien ($) are indicating that the situation isn’t serious enough for the Braves to seriously consider looking outside of the organization for another starter. If the Braves wanted to Jaime Garcia Jersey , they wouldn’t need to look too hard for a quality starter to plug into the rotation. Dallas Keuchel is still available and while he’s 31 and would be a relative graybeard (with all due respect to his currently amazing beard) to the rest of the rotation, as of right now he’d likely be the top guy in the rotation at the moment. He’d also provide stability in addition to the production. It’s one thing to put up the numbers that Keuchel did last year, such as a K% of 17.6 percent, a BB% of only 6.6 percent while being only a season removed from having ERA- and FIP- numbers of 69 and 87, respectively. It’s another to be able to be out there for 200 innings, which Keuchel has done three times during his big league career. While the Braves surely aren’t the only team interested (assuming that they are actually interested) in Keuchel http://www.bluejaysfanproshop.com/authentic-curtis-granderson-jersey , they’d be one of the teams that could benefit greatly from adding him and it only makes sense. Folty and Gausman are probably going to be fine and assuming that Sean Newcomb continues to stay in the rotation and the Braves still think that Julio Teheran needs to be trotted out there, that means that the Braves could easily just fill that fifth spot with a front-end starter and everybody would feel a lot better about their pitching when it comes to 2019. It seems like a no-brainer but here we are in March and not only is Keuchel still a free agent, it sure looks like one of the teams that would be a great fit for him aren’t even that interested. This would also seem like a nice time to actually show some life in the free agency market after witnessing the rest of the division (especially Philadelphia) actively do their best to strengthen their squad in an effort to catch up with the Braves. It really shouldn’t have come to us having to sit on pins and needles when it comes to the Braves’ starting players getting injured. We shouldn’t have to go into a panic and worry about what happens to the rotation if one or more of the current starters go down. The lineup shouldn’t be a Josh Donaldson injury away from having to figure out a solution or depend on basically the same bench from last year to pick up the slack. There could have been upgrades across the board and judging by the financial report that was released yesterday, there absolutely should have been upgrades to the team. Instead, this scenario where the Braves have to worry about what happens if certain guys end up going on the shelf is something that we all have to think about right now and it’s definitely not a comfortable thought at the moment. I’m saying all of this to say that even with this somewhat gloomy outlook, the Braves are still a better bet to be a good team than a bad team this year and there’s still a chance that the Braves know something that we don’t and that this team is only going to get better as the young players develop over the current season. That’s always a possibility and I’ve mentioned before that that’s probably what the Braves are banking on this year. With that being said Freddy Galvis Jersey , it would be nice to have some more breathing room and signing Dallas Keuchel would provide that space for the Braves. I’m sure that the team knows this, but it’s on them to decide if actually investing money and taking risks to improve the team in the face of the competition getting stronger will be worth it.