Braves non-tender Kris Medlen, Brandon Beachy
A pair of intriguing starting pitchers have hit the open market.
The Atlanta Braves non-tendered right-handers Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy, the team announced Tuesday.
Beachy and Medlen, who both missed the 2014 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, are now free agents.
While the pitchers are free to sign with any club, MLB.com's Mark Bowman reports that the Braves will attempt to work on bringing both back.
Medlen rejected a one-year deal from the Braves that would have paid him $5.3 million in 2015, and included a club option with a low-base salary for 2016, David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Both Medlen and Beachy were supposed to be big parts of Atlanta's rotation last season, leaving the Braves scrambling for starting pitching after the duo went down.
Beachy doesn't have much mileage on his arm but has thrown just 111 innings since 2012 due to elbow troubles. The 28-year-old was enjoying a breakout season in 2012 - pitching to a 2.00 ERA over 13 starts with a 0.96 WHIP - before his season was cut short by his first Tommy John procedure.
Medlen has a similar profile, but has more experience and better success than Beachy.
The 29-year-old, who has also undergone Tommy John surgery twice, was set to be Atlanta's Opening Day starter in 2014 after a pair of strong seasons.
Medlen made 12 starts for the Braves to close out the 2012 season after pitching in relief, and went 9-0 with a 0.97 ERA, 0.80 WHIP and 8.40 strikeout-to-walk rate. He followed it up in his first full season as a starter by putting up a 3.11 ERA over a career-high 197 innings in 2013.
The two certainly come with risk and are no guarantees to pitch like they have in the past, but both should draw significant interest from around the league and be able to ink incentive-laden contracts.
Atlanta also non-tendered right-hander Gus Schlosser, leaving 37 players on its 40-man roster.
The Braves tendered contracts to arbitration-eligible pitchers David Carpenter, James Russell and Mike Minor.
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