While Dodger fans waited patiently for their beloved team to tender contracts to A.J. Ellis and seven other arbitration-eligible players, there were a number of other significant players among MLB’s 29 other teams who were non-tendered contracts on Tuesday night. One such player was Braves right-hander Kris Medlen, who missed all of the 2014 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery on March 19, 2014. It was Medlen’s second such surgery, having undergone a previous Tommy John surgery on August 18, 2010 – both performed by top orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews.

Although it would be a huge risk signing Kris Medlen, the reward could also be huge. (Photo credit – Scott Cunningham)

No one will argue that recovering from Tommy John surgery is often ‘iffy’ at best, but having the procedure twice in less that four years is certainly a red flag warning when it comes to re-signing that player before having thrown even one pitch. Heaven knows that the Dodgers were faced with this exact situation with hard-throwing right-hander Chad Billingsley recently. The difference, of course, is that the Dodgers would have had to pay Billingsley $14 million for his 2015 club option whereas the Braves were probably looking at paying Medlen $5.8 million through arbitration in 2015.

In his brief five-year MLB career, the 29-year-old Artesia, California native has been used primarily as a starter and has enjoyed tremendous success. Medlen has a career record of 34-20 with an excellent 2.95 ERA. He has appeared in a total of 152 major league games (all with the Braves) having started 61 of them. In 2013 Medlen made 31 starts compiling a 15-12 record with a 3.11 ERA, giving every indication that he had fully recovered from his 2010 Tommy John surgery. But after making his 57th pitch during a spring training game on March 19, 2014, the hard-throwing right-hander felt his elbow blow out and knew exactly what it was – a torn ulnar collateral ligament.

Braves right-hander Kris Medlen was non-tendered by the Braves on Tuesday night making him an attractive free agent for teams willing to roll the dice on his twice surgically-repaired elbow.
(Video capture courtesy of MLB.com)

Medlen is reportedly on track for a June 2015 return but the question now is, will he have a team to return to? The next question is whether or not there is a team willing to sign him now as a non-tendered free agent without knowing if he will even be able to return to the game? Now granted, if there is a team willing to take a flyer on Medlen it would most likely be for far less than what he would have received through arbitration, but unless it is a minor league deal it would be an enormous risk.

A more likely outcome would be for Medlen to remain a free agent until he is ready to return and then audition for interested teams – much like former Giants closer Brian Wilson did after his second Tommy John surgery in 2012. Wilson was subsequently signed by the Dodgers in August of 2013 and pitched exceptionally well during the final two months of the season – good enough, in fact, to land a one-year / $10 million contract extension with an $8.5 million player option for 2015. As Dodgers fans know all to well, Wilson had a horrible 2014 season (2-4, 4.66 ERA with four blown saves). And while Dodger fans did not want to see the 32-year-old eccentric return in 2015, he had the Dodgers over a barrel with that player option which he couldn’t exercise fast enough when the Dodgers were eliminated from the playoffs on October 7 (and you wonder why Ned Colletti is now the Dodgers ex-general manager).

Should the Dodgers take a gamble on Kris Medlen? Chances are that if they aren’t willing to do so somebody else will.