Hudson scratched because of bad back

Article

Hudson scratched because of bad back

By DAVID O'BRIEN

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 03/17/05

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. ? As quickly as the words could be spoken ? "Tim Hudson is hurt" ? the Braves were throwing up caution flags and stressing what they considered to be the relatively minor nature of the injury.

They said Hudson's ailment was a stiff back, and the right-hander was scratched from his scheduled Thursday start against Pittsburgh only as a precaution. Kyle Davies will start in Hudson's place.

"If it was a regular-season game, he could start easily," manager Bobby Cox said. "He'll be fine. If we opened up today and he was starting, he'd pitch."

Hudson agreed with that assessment and said, "It's just a spasm, I guess. Nothing bad at all. This is totally precautionary. If it was real games, I wouldn't miss anything. But it's the beginning of spring, and I have three starts left [before the season]. No need to go out and make things worse."

Hudson could be fully recovered in a day or two, but will wait to make his next scheduled start Tuesday against the Mets. By keeping him on an every-fifth-day plan, the Braves won't have to disrupt their rotation for the rest of the spring.

The Braves haven't announced it yet, but they have the rotation laid out so that John Smoltz will start the April 5 opener at Florida, followed by Hudson, Mike Hampton, John Thomson and Horacio Ramirez, in that order.

Cox and the Braves understood why the Hudson news would be magnified so much more than a routine stiff back involving another player might be.

Hudson signed a four-year, $47 million contract extension on March 1. The former Oakland all-star spent six weeks on the disabled list last summer with a strained oblique muscle in his left side, and similar injuries slowed him late in the 2002 and '03 seasons.

"It's totally unrelated," Hudson said. "Totally nothing."

Cox said, "It's completely unrelated to his left hip."

Braves general manager John Schuerholz has said past reports of a nagging hip problem were "completely erroneous" and that the Braves did due diligence in determining Hudson wasn't a health risk before signing him to his extension.

The stiffness he's feeling is on the right side, midway up his back.

"It's completely unrelated to anything he's had in the past," head trainer Jeff Porter said. "Not even the same side."

Hudson said, "Yesterday I woke up with it, and a couple of days it's been bugging me a little bit. I started getting some treatment. We put all our brains together and decided [to scratch him against Pittsburgh]."

Hudson, 29, had a 92-39 career record in six seasons with Oakland, the third-best winning percentage since 1900 for a pitcher with at least 100 decisions.