The Nationals have called up veteran reliever Mike Gonzalez from Class AAA and have sent struggling Ryan Perry to Syracuse.
Gonzalez's contract was officially purchased this morning, with Perry optioned back to Class AAA. To make room for Gonzalez on the 40-man roster, the Nationals transferred closer Drew Storen from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL. That procedural move is retroactive to Opening Day and won't prevent Storen from returning from his elbow injury, likely in early July.Gonzalez, 34, signed a minor-league deal with the Nationals last month and reported to extended spring training to work back into shape after undergoing knee surgery during the offseason. He joined the roster at Syracuse last week and made one appearance for the Chiefs, tossing 1 1/3 scoreless innings Friday night at Indianapolis.
"We gave him three weeks [in Florida] to stretch his arm out, to get his velocity back, to get a feel for his breaking pitch," general manager Mike Rizzo said. "We activated him on rehab assignment and sent him to Syracuse, and he threw the ball extremely well. So we thought he was ready physically and he was stretched out enough and his velocity was there, so we could make the move."
Though he owns a 2.91 ERA in nine career seasons with the Pirates, Braves, Orioles and Rangers, Gonzalez has battled injuries and poor performances the last two seasons. Rizzo, though, was intrigued enough to take a look at the lefty and believes he could provide some veteran experience in their bullpen.
"He's a guy with great character that I've admired as a person for many years," Rizzo said. "He's battle-tested, and he's a pretty good, major-league reliever."
Gonzalez's addition does give the Nationals four left-handed relievers in their current bullpen, with Sean Burnett, Tom Gorzelanny and Ross Detwiler already in the fold. That unconventional alignment may not prove to be a long-term solution. The club expects to have veteran right-hander Brad Lidge back from hernia surgery in the next 10 days or so.
Perry, acquired from the Tigers last winter for fellow reliever Collin Balester, made seven appearances, posting a 10.13 ERA and putting 14 men on base in eight total innings.
8 comments:
With Ballester demoted as well, the trade with Detroit seems to be a wash at this point. The only advantage for the Nats continues to be Perry's option for this year, which allows the team to move him up and down as many times as they need to.
+1/2St.
Mark said Gonzalez's addition does give the Nationals four relievers in their current bullpen, with Sean Burnett, Tom Gorzelanny and Ross Detwiler already in the fold. That unconventional alignment...
Mark, I assume you meant four left-handed relievers.
1/2 St. -- considering they also signed Lidge thereafter, keeping Perry in Syracuse was almost certainly always part of their plan for this year. The idea was to see if they could get him into a plausible and consistent MLB reliever for next year when presumably they wouldn't resign Lidge. They never expected to be in a situation where they needed to bring him up this year.
Still a reasonable signing because Balester would just have been DFA'd and waived otherwise and they'd have gotten nothing out of having him. Here they at least have the possibility of getting something out of him next year, so they're still playing with house money.
this also gives Davey one more option to close a game out in case Clippard or Burnett need a day off.
Suggests a trade to me. With Lidge and Mattheus coming back, one of those lefties is one too many.
Jim Leyland said Perry was prone to throwing hanging sliders and he was right. Certainly will be interesting to see if one of these extra relievers gets dealt for a bench bat.
Suggests a trade to me. With Lidge and Mattheus coming back, one of those lefties is one too many.
They can still option Stammen and Mattheus. But I wouldn't hold my breath on Lidge. He's not the pitcher he used to be that is certain! And with HRod's woes they will need a right handed power arm in the bullpen other than Clippard's.
Lidge hasn't looked like his old self. On the other hand, there's this from the Dubroff piece on him (linked to at top right):
"While working in Viera, Fla. with Mark Grater, who coordinates injury rehabs, Lidge said he felt great. Grater agreed.
'He was kind of saying no offense, but he thought that I looked better than when I was pitching [in the majors],' Lidge said.
'That was probably a good thing. That was encouraging.'"
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