From the AP:
The Cincinnati Reds put left-hander Kent Mercker back on the 15-day disabled list with a sore elbow following their 8-7 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night.
Mercker was on the disabled list from May 14-25 with inflammation in the elbow. He had made nine appearances since June 1.
Reds manager Jerry Narron said the pain in the elbow is worse this time. The left-hander faced the last two batters in New York’s 4-2, 10-inning victory Thursday, and wasn’t available to pitch the last two days because of the pain.
Cincinnati expects to call up left-hander Brian Shackelford from Triple-A Louisville to take his roster place on Sunday. It will be Shackelford’s third stint with the Reds this season. He is 1-0 with a 7.71 ERA in 17 appearances.
This also could keep Joe Mays on the roster, though I hope it doesn’t.
there are going to be some interesting moves comuing up pretty soon here. belisle, claussen, and ross are all (barring setback) due back in the next week or two. so who goes when they come back?
The easy answer is for claussen, since he’ll probably step back into the 5th spot in the rotation, kicking mays to the curb. If the reds have the guts, that will be the answer if belisle comes off first too.
assuming claussen comes back first and mays exists, belisle becomes tougher. stormy seems like the most eligible, but the club obviously lusts after him for some reason, so it could be standridge despite his obvious superiority.
another option might be DLing the majic man if he continues to suck, though trading for an injured pitcher leaves almost as much egg on the face as trading for a crappy pitcher.
ross may be the toughest in the end, because with the right field situation being what it is, it just doesn’t seem smart to send wise down. that would leave our outfield bench pretty much non-existant, since freel and deno are both 3.5th outfielders. but since rich isn’t going anywhere, and clayton and castro are recently acquired, the only other option is to get rid of one of the other catchers.
so the reds will probably be stupid in at least 2 of 3 cases. to me:
smart =
claussen – mays
belisle – weathers
ross – trade larue
not so smart =
claussen – shack
belisle – standridge
ross – wise
with the moves the club has made so far “not so smart” is a lock
and can anyone explain the david weathers “lust.” i pretty much “hate” him. i’d rather carry a fourth catcher or twelfth middle infielder rather than weathers.
I want Weathers and Mays both gone. I don’t freaking care if we bring back Tuffy “Frickin” Rhodes, but please let these 2 sorry sacks of crap go. I’d almost swear my dead grandmother could pitch better then them, or at least be a smart enough manager not to bring the min a game….ever!!!
i saw that yan was released today, i just don’t get that. anyone with some insider baseball knowledge out there want to take a shot?
how does the guy with a 3.60 ERA (with a grandslam given up, so for the most part better than that) get kicked to the curb in favor of the guy with a 4+ ERA that you just traded for and the guy with the 5+ ERA and no neck.
what would it have cost to get just bray? which group is better bray/yan/standridge or bray/maj/weathers? which group are we going to have when belisle returns?
i’d feel a lot better about the trade if it was felo/wags for bray/clayton/prospect. i think our pen would be better and we’d still have kearns.
I thought Yan sucks…good riddance. But i’m with you on what in the world is Weathers still doing around? The only reason I can come up with is that they made a big stance at the beginning of the season about he was “the closer” and now they just feel stupid if they give up on they project to turn a “loser into a closer”! I would feel a whole lot more ignorant by keeping him around.
By the way, last 10 games, bullpen is
5-1, and ERA is a just over 3. Not too shabby. Trade’s not so bad!!! But I still say boot Mays and Weathers sooner than later, or trade them for a roll of used tp.