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Shuffling The Deck: Transactions At The Break

A lot of transactions in this morning’s post, and more to come. So at the suggestion of a Twitter follower, let’s see if I can outline how the Nationals are shuffling the deck at the minors All-Star break…

SYRACUSE
• RHP Ryan Perry reassigned to Harrisburg — Per Geoff Morrow, he’s expected to transition to the rotation.
• RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx transferred to/from Harrisburg — Basically, a loan to help the Senators bullpen after a heavy workload the past few days.
• C James Skelton placed on 7-Day DL

HARRISBURG
• SS Chris McConnell — Morrow says he’s been told that this will be the sole organizational cut.
• C James Skelton transferred to Syracuse — until Sandy Leon is reactivated, expect this kind of shuffling to continue.
• IF Stephen King reassigned to Potomac — A move that seems reminiscent of the 2010 midyear demotions of Bill Rhinehart and Sean Rooney.
• LHP Mike Ballard placed on the DL — Elbow discomfort, per Morrow story linked above.

POTOMAC
• 3B/SS Zach Walters promoted to Harrisburg — Yes, he’s struggled with the errors, but has gotten red-hot with the bat over the last 3-4 weeks.
• 1B Justin Bloxom promoted to Harrisburg — Take away April, he’s hitting .295 with 11HR and 27RBI, a slower more steady improvement than Walters.

HAGERSTOWN
• IF Bryce Ortega reassigned from the GCL Nationals — Presuming he was sent to XST due to playing-time issues, it looks like a spot has opened up (*ahem*).
• SS Jason Martinson promoted to Potomac — Alluded by himself, confirmed by Byron Kerr

AUBURN
• RHP Taylor Jordan reassigned from the GCL Nationals — Coming back from a UCL replacement procedure in May 2011.

GCL
• RHP Dixon Anderson reassigned from Auburn — A 2011 draftee that reportedly had injury concerns and yet to make a regular-season pro appearance.
• OF Eury Perez assigned to GCL — On the DL in Harrisburg, a procedural move. Suffering from a strained oblique.
• LHP Josh Smoker assigned to GCL — On the DL in Potomac, a procedural move. Exact nature of injury/issue unknown.
• RHP Adam Carr assigned to GCL — On the DL in Syracuse, a procedural move. Recovering from shoulder surgery last summer.

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As always, if/when more news trickles in, I’ll update this space for the next 24 hours or so.

UPDATE #1: SS Jason Martinson has been promoted from Hagerstown to Potomac.

UPDATE #2: C James Skelton placed on DL (corrected to/from transfer points)

16 Commments

  1. Some pretty exciting stuff.
    Ortega had a good year in 2011. He SHOULD be in Hagerstown.
    Is UCL shorthand for Tommy John surgery?
    Speaking of TJ, looking for a McGeary sighting.

    1. Yes, I thought TJ for TJ would have been too cutesy, no? McGeary has been tweeting from Florida, so the presumption is that he’ll be back in the GCL.

      1. Luke, I just saw a post from Byron Kerr that says McGeary was on the Auburn roster. Sorry I missed it before.
        Also saw Benjamin Grisz on that roster; he put up terrific numbers for them before being sent home for ‘bad behavior’. Was wondering if he would get a scond chance.

  2. Speaking of bad behavior wasn’t it last year that the Nats didn’t sign a kid because of a racist tweet? When will he be eligible for the draft again? I just want to see if anyone picks him up some day, or if he wiped out his dream with one stupid remark.

    1. Yes, that was Zach Houchins and he was eligible this past draft but went undrafted. He’s just 19, so it’s probably premature to say that his tweets have permanently sidetracked him. The CW is that organizations want to see how he does at Eastern Carolina, especially after sliding over from SS to 3B.

  3. Skole has to be moving up to Potomac. I say Goodwin goes up with him. What do we think about Meyer? I’m content to leave him in low-A for the year and accelerate him when the mechanics are in solid place (not that they aren’t at a decent place now).

    1. How are you going to know Meyer’s progress if he’s not challenged?
      As for his mechanics, at 6’9″ that’s a 2-3 year process. (see Johnson, Randy)

  4. Weird seeing Perry moved to the rotation. Is this admission that he’s now an Organizational Guy? Or are they trying to turn him into some kind of long man?

  5. It looks like there are still some moves to be made

    Chris McConnel, who is replaced by Zach Walters, with Jason Martinson taking over Walters place at Potomac, we still dont know who replaced Martinson at Hagerstown

    There is still an open roster spot at AA left by James Skelton

    Stephen Kings swaps places with Justin Bloxom

    Mike Ballard, replaced by Ryan Perry

    There is another open spot at AA left by austin Bibens-Drikx

    So by my count, Hagesrtown needs 1 player, Potomac is even, and Harrisburg needs 2 more players, and Syracuse has 1 open spot. Should be interesting to see who else gets moved up/down

    1. Just got the official press release from Harrisburg, which has the roster at 25 (full).

      1. But if you take away 5(Skelton, Ballard, McConnell, King, and Bibens-Dirx), and add 3 (Walters, Bloxom, Perry) how do you have a full roster? Even if you throw out the entire Skelton thing, which is confusing me, you still are replacing 4 guys with 3.

        1. Err, it looks like the Harrisburg roster has 26 on it, and it is before all these transactions

          1. Nvm, if you can, could you foward me the Harrisburg press realese, as I am lost.

          2. Wait, I think I finaly got it, I kept getting 26 becuase the roster lists Rafael Martin as active. Sorry for consfusing everyone.

            :facepalm

          3. Updated/corrected roster is indeed 24 — 12P, 2C, 7IF, 3OF. My guess is that Perez will round out the roster next Tuesday when the Senators get back from N.H.

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