Atlanta Braves Option Castro Out; Bring Up Eury Perez

Mar 5, 2015; Lakeland, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves outfielder Eury Perez (8) gets back to first base as Detroit Tigers first basemen Aaron Westlake (80) catches the throw in the third inning of the spring training baseball gameat Joker Marchant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports

Apparently Andrelton Simmons is going to be well enough to return to action tonight, because that’s what today’s roster move suggests:

Here’s hoping that his backup Daniel Castro liked the cup of coffee he had last night (getting a hit in his major-league-debut AB), for he’s heading back to join his Gwinnett teammates.

The Braves had been a bit short on the bench – and still are, since Freddie Freeman will be out for the next couple of days or so – but Perez’ presence will at least insure that the outfield positions are covered (he can handle all of them) whilst somebody named Johnson (probably Kelly Johnson) takes first base.

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You might ask ‘what about Todd Cunningham?’, for until Kelly Johnson returned from the DL, he had been the designated backup outfielder.

Unfortunately for the Braves, there’s a rule that forces them to choose a player other than Cunningham.  Whenever such an option is exercised, the player must remain in the minors for at least 10 dats before being re-callable again.

There is an exception to this rule for injuries, but (a) Freddie Freeman isn’t on the DL; and (b) Cunningham isn’t a first baseman: the exception requiring a postion-for-position replacement.  Either way, the Braves opted for Perez.

Not A Bad Choice

Eury Perez hasn’t been a slouch at AAA in any case.  In 60 games, he’s hitting .296/.370/.376 for a .746 OPS with 8.5% walks and under 15% strikeouts.  He’s also stolen 28 bases.

These numbers aren’t a fluke:  in 57 AAA games with the Nationals in 2014, he hit .311/.372/.406.  Other AAA stints confirm that as well.  He’s mostly a singles hitter, but will pop one every other month or so.  Of course many of his singles turn into stolen ‘doubles’, too.

Perez is barely 25 years old, yet was obtained as a minor league free agent in the off-season from the Yankees after having been with the Nationals organization prior to that.

This is not his ML debut:  Perez saw 13 games with the Nats in 2012, 9 in 2013, and 4 more with the Yankees in 2014 – never enough playing time to see how his .300 hitting in AAA translated.

It’s Getting Complicated

This still makes things a bit more interesting, for just yesterday we had a nice tidy explanation about how things might work for Friday’s anticipated move – but that was before Freeman’s hand injury was aggravated.

What I would now anticipate is that Sugar Ray Marimon will have to be optioned out on Friday so that Matt Wisler can be brought to the majors to take the 4th starter position.  This keeps the bench with enough backup role players to insure that everyone is covered in case something else happens in the near term.  It does leave the bullpen without a ‘long man’ again, but that had been the case for a while now.

No 40-man rosters were harmed in the making of this transaction.  Perez was already on it; Castro remains so at this time.

Next: The Catching Quandry: Braves Need an Anchor for the Staff