Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
In two moves apparently intended to both free roster space and provide organizational depth, Atlanta has signed infielder Tyler Greene to a minor league deal while also releasing Blake DeWitt.
Greene – 30 years old today – was released by the White Sox this week after stints with both their major league and AAA clubs this year. He hit .240 in AAA, .222 in the majors. He hit the majors first as a Cardinal in 2009, but his bat – never really better than replacement level has tanked in the last couple of years. I had presumed that Tommy La Stella would be promoted to Gwinnett as Philip Gosselin was promoted to Atlanta, but it seems that he gets no love: Greene is likely to finish out the rest of the year there; he will not be on the 40-man roster. Maybe the front office is trying to give the M-Braves a little help to win their division by keeping La Stella there (the team is in 2nd place behind the Jacksonville Suns, 1.5 games out as this is being written; and on a 5 game win streak).
Blake DeWitt never really had much of a chance in a Brave uniform. 2 games at Gwinnett; 4 with Atlanta. Then a back injury never allowed him to continue the season. Now he’s a victim of the 40-man roster: he was effectively the 43rd man on that list, and his release actually frees a useful slot. Since we’ve already talked about the state of the roster, I won’t belabor the point here. I continue to anticipate that the Braves are working hard to bring some kind of major league quality infielder in via trade before August is done… this move would seem to be in preparation for such a deal.
Could Atlanta have kept DeWitt by outrighting him off the roster? Likely, yes, but that might have delayed/complicated trade discussions, if something comes up this weekend. In the meantime, signing Greene will fix the problem of having no second baseman at Gwinnett (third baseman Alden Carrithers manned that position last night in a 5-4 loss to Durham).