Roster Moves (6/22): Chris Tillman to Triple-A, Takashi Saito returns
By Wally Fish
During the course of June 22nd, 15 teams made some sort of roster move. The day also saw two minor trades, a top prospect got down and several veterans came off the disabled list to help their respective teams.
(moves after the jump)
Trade Time:
1B-Tommy Everidge (27) was traded to the Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners received cash considerations in return. Everidge didn’t show a lot in his first major league action with the Athletics last season, but he did turn in an excellent line of 0.335/.402/.556 with 33 2B and 20 HR between AA and AAA.
The Baltimore Orioles traded RHP-Ross Wolf (27) to the Oakland Athletics and acquired, recently DFA’d, OF/3B-Jake Fox (27). Look for more on this deal when Nathaniel publishes a dedicated article breaking it down with reaction and analysis. We anticipate that column will be up within the next 24 hours.
AL Central:
The Detroit Tigers called up RHP-Jay Sborz (25) from Toledo.
The Cleveland Indians called up RHP-Joe Smith (26) from Columbus.
AL East:
The Baltimore Orioles optioned RHP-Chris Tillman (22) to Norfolk and designated RHP-Cla Meredith (27) for assignment. Tillman had a rough go of things in his 4 big league starts this year and heads to Triple-A with an unsightly 8.40 ERA, 2.20 WHIP and 0.88 SO/BB. Our O’s site, Birds Watcher, published a few thoughts on the moves here.
OF-Josh Reddick (23) was called up from Pawtucket by the Boston Red Sox. The team also optioned RHP-Robert Manuel (26) to Triple-A.
AL West:
The Oakland Athletics designated 2B/OF-Eric Patterson (27) for assignment and activated OF-Coco Crisp (30) from the 15-day DL. Like his big brother Corey, I have always pulled for Eric Patterson to break through and find success at the major league level. He’s getting a little long in the tooth, but he did show some flashes last season in 110 PA. Here’s hoping he gets another shot, with the A’s or someone else, in the near future.
The Texas Rangers activated OF-Nelson Cruz (29) from the 15-day disabled list and optioned OF-Craig Gentry (26) to Oklahoma City.
NL Central:
Talk about not making a lasting impression. The Milwaukee Brewers released RHP-Brian Bruney (28). He signed a minor league deal with the team on June 2nd, but only logged 3.1 scoreless innings of work in Triple-A Nashville in the last three weeks.
The Houston Astros optioned LHP-Wesley Wright (25) to Round Rock and activated RHP-Chris Sampson (32) from the 15-day disabled list.
Pittsburgh Pirates 2B-Akinori Iwamura (31) cleared waivers and has been sent to Indianapolis.
NL East:
The Philadelphia Phillies made a slew of moves. SS-Jimmy Rollins (31) was activated from the 15-day DL while C-Carlos Ruiz (31) found his way on to the DL thanks to concussion-like symptoms. Another 31-year old, 3B-Greg Dobbs, was designated for assignment. Finally two ships passed in the night as RHP-Scott Mathieson (26) was optioned to and LHP-Mike Zagurski (27) was called up from Lehigh Valley.
The Florida Marlins called up LHP-James Houser (25) from New Orleans and RHP-Alejandro Sanabia (21) from Jacksonville (AA). They also released LHP-Hunter Jones (26).
The Atlanta Braves optioned RHP-Craig Kimbrel (22) to Gwinnett and activated RHP-Takashi Saito (40) from the 15-day DL. Saito has flown under the radar a bit in recent years, after saving 39 games for the Dodgers back in 2007 (with a stellar 1.40 ERA and 6.0 SO/BB), but he has continued to be very effective. In 270.0 major league innings he has a 2.13 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 3.89 SO/BB and ERA+ of 209.
NL West:
The San Diego Padres optioned 2B-Lance Zawadzki (25) to Portland and called up C-Dusty Ryan (25).
The Colorado Rockies designated RHP-Juan Rincon (31) for assignment and activated RHP-Huston Street (26) from the 15-day disabled list. Street should make his 2010 season debut in the near future, but it might take a few outings to reclaim his role as the team’s closer.
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