Corey Brown, Jhonatan Solano Get The Call
With OF/PH Chad Tracy being placed on the 15-Day DL with a groin injury, the Washington Nationals have indeed made the move to recall Syracuse OF Corey Brown, as suggested in this morning’s news & notes. Yesterday, Brown was flown from upstate NY to Florida in anticipation of this development, which was also signaled by the activation of OF J.R. Higley from the Potomac DL and the placement of RHP Rafael Martin on the Temporary Inactive List.
Brown is currently riding a five-HRs-in-five-games HR streak and has been red-hot in the month of May, hanging a line of .359/.450/.772 including 9HR and 23 RBI in 24 games. He’s also stolen six bases in nine tries as the Chiefs leadoff batter and has two errors in 55 games on defense. This is his second stint with the parent club, the previous coming last September when he was hurt after just three pinch-hit appearances.
For those wondering why the more experienced Harrisburg OFs Jesus Valdez and Chris Rahl were bypassed, consider that two key Senators starters — Jeff Kobernus and Destin Hood — have been day-to-day with nagging injuries. It’s possible, if not probable, that one of those two will swap places with Higley once Hood is able to return to action, or perhaps even as soon as Martin is eligible to reactivated from the Temporary Inactive List on Wednesday.
Brown, who was acquired along with Rolaids dispenser RHP Henry Rodriguez in the December 2010 trade with Oakland for OF Josh Willingham, is expected to come off the bench. How long his stay in DC will depend on the parent club’s decisions to be made once OF-1B Michael Morse is deemed healthy enough to return to action for Washington. Morse is expected to play with Potomac this week on a rehab assignment and could be activated as soon as Friday, according to Nats Insider Mark Zuckerman.
UPDATE: The Harrisburg Senators have announced that OF Destin Hood has been placed on the 7-Day DL, retroactive to Friday, May 25, with no corresponding move. Both the Syracuse and Harrisburg rosters stand at 24, one short of the full 25. Stay tuned to this space if an additional move is made this afternoon.
UPDATE #2: Multiple online sources are reporting that Jhonatan Solano will be called up with 1B-LF Tyler Moore returning to Syracuse. As noted on Twitter last night, the presence of Solano on the 40-man and three catchers already on the Chiefs roster made this an unsurprising turn of events, not to mention the popular opinion that Moore was gathering dust on the bench as he was given more than two plate appearances just twice in 12 games and 19 overall in four weeks.
Brown doesn’t have options? So, it seems to make more sense to send the player currently without a position, Tyler Moore, to Syracuse to play every day and continue to see if he can learn to play left field … or fail as Marrero once did.
The problem is they would then have a dearth of right handed bats off the bench. If it was I (depending on how far along he is with the back issue of course) I would recall Solano and add another right handed bat and 3 catchers. Solano can play second base in a pinch, so he is athletic enough to play other positions as he’s proven in winter ball. Seems like he could be a whole heck of a lot more valuable than Xavier Nady at this point?
Guessed right again … looks as if that is what happened. They optioned Tyler Moore and recalled Solano.
Brown still has option years.
Most options would produce more value than Nady
I am wondering if Jason Michaels retired after 15 years? He is on the restricted list on the Syracuse roster and in Bennetti’s podcast interview with Corey Brown it sounded an awful lot like he wasn’t coming back … sounded like the whole clubhouse was in mourning?
Congratulations on keeping track of all this; you need charts & graphs to keep all the moves straight.
Not to mention the complications caused by F.O. shenanigans.