High & Inside: NL Notes
One's going up; one's going down The San Francisco Giants made two moves over the weekend designed to prop up one of baseball's weakest lineups.
One's going up; one's going down
The San Francisco Giants made two moves over the weekend designed to prop up one of baseball's weakest lineups.
One of the new bats is at the very beginning of a promising career; the other is near the end.
With Buster Posey hammering triple-A pitching, the Giants brought up the 23-year-old catcher and parked him at first base, just to get his bat in the lineup.
As a replacement, the Fresno Grizzlies got Pat Burrell. The 33-year-old slugger, who was the Phillies' Buster Posey in 1999, signed a minor-league contract with the Giants on Saturday and was sent to triple A.
"Right now he needs some at-bats in the minor leagues," Giants manager Bruce Bochy told MLB.com, "and we'll see where he's at in the next 10 days or so."
Burrell, a graduate of Bellarmine Prep in nearby San Jose, was designated for assignment by Tampa Bay on May 22 after hitting .202 with just two home runs and 13 RBIs in 24 games, all as designated hitter. He has 267 career home runs and 904 RBIs.
Posey, who hit .349 with 32 RBIs in 47 games for Fresno, played for the Grizzlies in Salt Lake City on Friday night and flew to San Francisco early Saturday morning. He had three hits and three RBIs in a 12-1 victory over Arizona.
Noteworthy
Charlie Haeger's anticipated return this week from the disabled list has been put on hold after the Dodgers righthander sustained another foot injury while rehabbing an episode of plantar fascitis in his right heel. . . . Andre Ethier is set to come off the DL after a rehab stint for his broken pinky finger, and Dodgers manager Joe Torre said he expected the outfielder to be available for Monday's game against Arizona. . . . Carlos Zambrano will return to the Cubs' rotation Wednesday at Pittsburgh, after being banished to the bullpen following a series of bad outings. Zambrano will replace lefthander Tom Gorzelanny, who will move to the bullpen, manager Lou Piniella said. . . . Braves catcher Brian McCann missed his fourth straight start with a strained right quadriceps, but said he hoped to play Monday against the Phillies.