Transactions Notes 4/28/11 - 5/4/11

Lots of interesting stuff to cover this time around.

4/28/11

AAA:
- Brad Emaus activated from the Reserve List.
- Willy Taveras activated from the Temporarily Inactive List.
- Josh Muecke placed on the Temporarily Inactive List.
- Jeff Salazar placed on the Temporarily Inactive List.

Two changes at AAA began last week in Rockies transactions. Emaus, who we had acquired the previous week, was at last in uniform with the Sky Sox, and ready to play. To make room for him, the Rockies once again relocated pitcher Josh Muecke, this time to the temporarily inactive list, from which he has not yet been activated.

The day also saw Willy Taveras finally ready to return from the TIL after spending some time their recovering from a minor injury. He switched places with Jeff Salazar. Like Muecke, Salazar has not yet returned to the Sky Sox roster. His job at AAA may be in doubt as their roster begins to solidify for the main stretch of the season.

A+:
- Josh Rutledge activated from the 7 Day Disabled List.
- Maikol Gonzalez assigned to A- Tri-City.

When Rutledge went on the DL two weeks ago, it was Gonzalez that replaced his spot on the roster. The two switch once again, as prospect Rutledge returns to regular duty for Modesto. Gonzalez' assignment to the Dust Devils, as with the other ones this year, is essentially a reassignment to Extended Spring Training.

We continue into the rest of the week after the jump.

4/29/11

MLB:
- Alfredo Amezaga purchased and assigned to Colorado Rockies.
- Clay Mortensen optioned to AAA Colorado Springs.
- Alan Johnson designated for assignment.

The time for an 8 man bullpen expired at last, with Ty Wigginton's injury putting extra pressure on an already thin bench. Amezaga, who is a super-utility type that can play essentially anywhere if needed to, made sense as a callup to stabilize the bench depth. Only problem: first 40 man roster conflict of the season, with Aaron Cook already on the 60 Day Disabled List. Thankfully, the move was easy: designating Alan Johnson for assignment. As many of you probably know, but should be clarified anyway, designation for assignment unassigns you from any team in the organization and removes you from the 40 man roster. You are then placed in a limbo state where the team either trades you, releases you, or attempts to outright you. In this case, it would be the latter, which would require Johnson to be placed on waivers. The outcome will be discussed later.

Mortensen was optioned back to AAA where he will return to the role of starting. His option from earlier in the season had already become official at the time of the demotion, thus there are no new optional assignment details necessary here; his 2011 is already official. Mortensen is a player who is out of regular minor league options after this year, but will be given a bonus fourth option for 2012.

AAA:
- Cole Garner placed on 7 Day Disabled List.
- Matt Macri activated from Temporarily Inactive List.

Garner spent time on the TIL last week to recovery from an injury, but that injury either got aggravated or Garner sustained another quickly, and this time, he was going to be out of commission for longer. Macri was activated from the TIL to take the roster spot. Mortensen and Amezaga swapped places, Garner and Macri too, but no replacement for Johnson's spot on the roster would come until May 1st.

4/30/11

AA:
- Josh Sullivan assigned to AA Tulsa from A- Tri-City.
- Sean Jarrett placed on the 7 Day Disabled List.

As any readers know by now, the information on minor league transactions is sketchy. No one place, even the official team websites, announce every roster move in a timely or even accurate manner. This week, we saw Josh Sullivan return from the Dust Devils roster back to the Drillers to make another start. No corresponding move was announced at the time, but it turned out to be Sean Jarrett trading spots with Sullivan once again. This time, he landed on the disabled list.

5/1/11

AAA:
- Edgmer Escalona activated from the 7 Day Disabled List.

Finally coming off of the disabled list is 40 Man Roster occupant Edgmer Escalona. After a whirlwind of various health concerns over the offseason and during Spring Training, the organization chose to activate him to fill Alan Johnson's spot on the Sky Sox roster. Because of that empty spot, no corresponding move was necessary this time.

5/2/11

A+:
- Kiel Roling assigned to A+ Modesto from Extended Spring Training.
- Kala Ka'aihue placed on 7 Day Disabled List.

After a big 2009 at Asheville, Roling skipped Modesto for Tulsa. The decision didn't work out, as poor performance and injury knocked him down as a prospect (and off the PuRPs list entirely). With regular Modesto first baseman Kala Ka'aihue having to take some time on the disabled list, and Ben Paulsen having emerged past Roling on the 1B depth chart, an opportunity to send Roling from Extended Spring Training to get some time in play was presented.

The assignment for Roling could be long-term, or it could be for only a short time. Roling will not be returning to AA as a regular first baseman barring an issue with Paulsen. Modesto makes sense for him, but it is also two steps back in his career, hypothetically assuming he'd have to repeat Tulsa again after spending a year at Modesto. It also depends on the status of Ka'aihue, whose injury may prompt another move sooner than later. Roling is probably of greater importance to the organization than Ka'aihue is, but I wouldn't put it past either one of them to displace the other permanently.

5/3/11

MLB:
- Ian Stewart recalled from AAA Colorado Springs.
- Ty Wigginton placed on the 15 Day Disabled List, retroactive to April 27th.

Having not played in essentially a week, a move to the DL for Wigginton was looking less and less risky. He could barely throw the ball, and Ian Stewart was experiencing at least some success with the Sky Sox. Though it was earlier than anyone probably expected, Stewart was called back to the big club. His optional assignment was interrupted at 15 days; for the time being, Stewart's second option year is not burned, but if he gets optioned back down at any point, five more days until it counts. Wigginton will be eligible to return to the Rockies on May 12th.

AAA:
- Alan Johnson outrighted from Colorado Rockies.
- Billy Buckner placed on 7 Day Disabled List.
- Mike Paulk activated from 7 Day Disabled List.

Let's discuss the outright process for a moment. A player can be outrighted at any point; they don't have to be designated for assignment as Johnson was. The process in any situation is essentially the same: the player is placed on waivers, and all 29 other teams have a chance to bite. No one took the bait on Johnson, and thus he remained under our control. Players who have been outrighted before (Johnson has not) or players who have over 5 years of MLB service time (Johnson has less than five days) can refuse outright assignment, but since he doesn't qualify for either of those qualities, he must accept assignment to AAA. His contract does, however, expire at the end of the season, now that he is no longer protected on the 40 man roster, meaning he can leave as a MiLB free agent at the end of the year.

Buckner to the disabled list cleared room for Johnson. Paulk's activation replaces Stewart's spot for the Sky Sox.

AA:
- Casey Weathers activated from the Temporarily Inactive List.
- Joe Torres places on the 7 Day Disabled List.

The busy day continues with a AA roster swap. Joe Torres to the DL was reported first, and I wondered if it had simply taken a while for the corresponding move from April 30th for Josh Sullivan to be reported. It became clear when Casey Weathers came into the game that evening that he was actually the player activated here.

5/4/11

A+
- Nick Schnaitmann activated from the Temporarily Inactive List.
- Daniel Perkins placed on the 7 Day Disabled List.

Schnaitmann had struggled mightily with the Nuts, and I discussed last week whether or not Perkins would be taking the spot in the rotation from him long term. However, it appears that Perkins, who began the season on the DL before being activated for that spot start with the Sky Sox, needs more time to heal (or, of course, potentially sustained a new injury). The door is back open for Schnaitmann to join Modesto's rotation.

That wraps things up for this week. Oh, wait, there's this funny tidbit:

Random Note: There is a .00001% chance we acquired a minor league catcher named Jordan Comadena from the Astros yesterday. He's showing up on the Dust Devils official roster.

The only reason it's not a nil chance is because I can't exactly entirely prove we didn't actually acquire this guy, but want to know what I think am pretty much certain happened? Guess where the Astros A- affiliate is located? Yup: also Tri-City, except it's a Tri-City on the other side of the country. Knowing the lack of attention to detail the senile robot slaves in charge of monitoring the minor league rosters contribute to their job performance, you can bet that one short-circuited and assigned the poor catcher to the wrong Tri-City team. I wonder if anybody he knows noticed he's suddenly on a Colorado roster. Oh, no... that'd mean people actually read those.

See you all next Thursday.