The “TBA” for Syracuse is now Paul Demny, formerly of Harrisburg. He’ll be making his first AAA start tonight against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after posting a 4-4, 3.98/4.04/1.31 line for the Senators
Sorry for the lack of enthusiasm, but it’s difficult to tell if this is a true promotion (e.g. Taylor Jordan, Potomac to Harrisburg) or a need-based assignment (e.g. Craig Manuel, Hagerstown to Harrisburg) This has been happening a lot lately, and it’s a judgment call because not every move upward is a promotion, the verb choice of team PR staffers not withstanding.
The reason for the doubt is of course the status of veteran Ross Ohlendorf. In this morning’s News & Notes, I suggested that he may have opted out of his minor-league contract. After putting out some feelers, there’s still no word in either direction. He’s still listed as active on MiLB.com, but the site is notorious for being slow on updates (Demny, for example, is still listed on the Harrisburg roster as of this writing at ~4:35 p.m.).
Naturally, it’s possible that both he and Yunesky Maya have been demoted to the bullpen or placed on the DL, but common sense dictates that as veterans that if the organization no longer wants them to start, they’d be released. More feasible is the idea that Ohlendorf has read the tea leaves and for the second straight year, decided to look for another organization to hook on with in his quest to return to the majors.
Apologies in advance to anyone this may confuse or offend, but I thought it might be worth a short post to explain the lack of “Movin’ On Up” pics for minor-leaguers lately.
UPDATE #1: With word that Stephen Strasburg being placed on the DL, another possibility is that the Nats are withholding both Maya and Ohlendorf in order to maximize the surprise factor for whomever is tapped to start in his place on Saturday. This, of course, was last done with the surprise promotion of Nathan Karns.
UPDATE #2: FoxSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal is now reporting that Ohlendorf will be added to the 40-man roster and make the start for the big club in place of Stephen Strasburg. As noted in the comments, so much for subterfuge… and so much for my “opted out” scenario. For what it’s worth, this caught the folks paid to do this flat-footed, too. It happens.