Will Peter Moylan Be A Member Of The Atlanta Braves In 2012

One member of the Atlanta Braves bullpen who hasn't been discussed much here at Talking Chop is Peter Moylan. Moylo had it rough last year, succumbing to both back and shoulder injuries, and only pitching in 13 games. Eligible for arbitration this year, it is possible that the Braves could non-tender him. MLB's Mark Bowman passes this along:

The Braves will almost certainly not tender Peter Moylan a contract by Monday. But Wren said he has already had discussions with Moylan's agent, Adam Katz, about the possibility of the Australian reliever returning once he begins throwing and proves that his surgically repaired right shoulder is sound. [...]

While Moylan is hoping to be ready to pitch early next season, there is certainly a chance he could miss much of the season's first half.

"There's still some unknown about his health status," Wren said. "We probably won't know more until he starts throwing and we get deeper into the rehab process."

To which Moylan responded on his twitter feed:

But really, wanting to come back from an injury, and actually coming back full-speed from an injury are two completely different conversations. No doubt that Moylan wants to prove he's healthy and can be a productive member of the bullpen from opening day, but there's no guarantee that will happen.

As much as I like Peter Moylan, the baseball GM in me can't really offer him arbitration with the prospect of paying him more than his $2 million salary last season. My guess is that the discussion the Braves had with Moylan's agent revolved around a low guaranteed salary with several incentives for roster time or games pitched.

My hope is that Moylan accepts those terms, but I can see why he would hesitate when the organization doesn't think he'll be ready in the first half of the season. How willing would they be to add him to the roster if they can save money by keeping him in the minors until they have to promote him. Moylan saw how that went down with Scott Proctor last year, and may not want to toil away in triple-A, when he can become a free agent and see if another team will give him more guaranteed money.

Another factor to keep in mind is that Moylan is represented by the same agency (Wasserman Media Group) that Rafael Furcal was represented by when that whole contract snafu went down several years ago. They should have had time to patch things up by now, but from the Braves perspective that wound was pretty deep.

I would hate it if Petah left. After all, he might be worth an extra million in "clubhouse presence."