NEWSLETTER
We knew a roster move was coming today because of the Clint Frazier appendix situation, and now we’ve got the series of official announcements.
Frazier goes on the 10-day IL with appendicitis (retroactive to April 20, though it seems unlikely he’ll be ready to go in eight days in any case). Mostly, you just hope it’s a situation where the issue was caught early and is easily treatable. When Trevor Williams had appendicitis last year, and had his appendix removed, he was out for a month.
Taking Frazier’s spot on the 28-man roster is Alfonso Rivas, who very briefly went back down to Iowa this past week and raaaaaaaked (14 PAs, 7 hits (2 2B, 1 HR), 1 BB, 4 K). He is likely to rake at Iowa whenever he’s there at this point, but when he was up with the big team, he sure wasn’t getting a lot of action. I hope that changes because I just love watching him bat.
Meanwhile, outfielder Greg Deichmann, who was DFA’d this weekend as part that series of moves, has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Iowa. As expected, no org wanted to use a 40-man spot on him right now – the 26-year-old outfielder simply hasn’t hit at all since being acquired from the A’s last summer – and he is now with the Iowa Cubs for the rest of the season until and unless something changes. If the Cubs want to call him back up or retain him at the end of the year before he hits free agency, they would have to put him back on the 40-man.
As we discussed earlier today, though, that Iowa outfield situation could get very crowded very soon, with each of Nelson Velazquez, Nelson Maldonado, and Darius Hill exploding at Double-A Tennessee.
