Jared Shuster might work out of the bullpen tonight prior to starting this weekend

Atlanta's choice of Shuster with five days before he'd be projected to start makes you wonder what his role is

The Atlanta Braves optioned Allan Winans down to AAA Gwinnett following last night's loss to the New York Mets, and they called up Jared Shuster in his place. 

Normally Shuster's role would be obvious - he's a starter that's already started nine times for Atlanta, and so we'd expect him to start the next time Atlanta has an opening (which would be sometime this weekend in San Francisco). 

But I don't think it's that simple, for a few reasons. 

For one, Atlanta's standard operating procedure is to promote the prospect that's going to start on the day of (or the day before) the outing, not five days prior. Normally if there's a few days before they need a starter, Atlanta tries to go out and get another reliever.  

Additionally, this Braves bullpen has been taxed recently: Both Collin McHugh and Michael Tonkin have thrown a lot of pitches recently, and so there's not an option in the pen of any length if you need one over the next few days. 

Rotowire

Everybody outside of Atlanta's "core four" high-leverage relievers is in the orange or red, and pitching guidelines would suggest they're all unavailable tonight vs the Mets. Bryce Elder's not made it past the fifth inning in four of his last seven starts, with him not making it through the 4th in two of those. 

All this to say: Shuster's probably penciled in to start one of the games this weekend in San Francisco, but I also think he's the go-to if a long reliever is needed tonight or possibly tomorrow. A "break glass in case of emergency" option, if you will. 

If Atlanta has to use him for an inning or two, it could be treated as a between starts bullpen for the lefty and he could start for you on Sunday. Even if he needs to give you three or four innings tonight as a piggyback for Elder, it's entirely realistic to expect him to still be able to start on Sunday - he hasn't thrown for Gwinnett since August 16th, and so he's lined up for a long outing. 

Don't be surprised if you see him down in the "Arm barn" tonight for game two against the Mets. 

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