The Giants designated infielder Matt Downs for assignment to make room for Cody Ross, tweets Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News.
Downs, 26, struggled in the bigs over 148 career plate appearances in 2009-10. He played second base in the Majors, but has minor league experience at shortstop, third base, and the outfielder corners too. This year marked his third Triple A stint; his power slipped as he posted a .254/.348/.416 line in a half-season. Downs was still considered a prospect heading into the 2009 season, when Baseball America ranked him 24th on their Giants list and published praise from GM Brian Sabean.
Just eat the 24 mill, DFA Rowand and get it over with.
Or try to work out a trade with the pirates for Rowand. They always seem to take our ridiculous contracts off our hands.
Watch Sabean put in a claim for Manny when he’s put on waivers later today/this week.
…didn’t even know Matt Downs was on the roster.
The tweet from Baggarly mentions that Downs was DFA’d to make room on the 40 man roster, then will make room on the 25 man roster when Ross reports. So… Can someone explain how the 40 man works in this scenario? I thought the 40 man roster didn’t start to matter until Sept. 1.
Thanks.
John, There is an active roster of 25. There is a 40 man roster of players who are protected and considered part of the major league team. These players can be call up to the 25 man roster to replace injured or released players. The team has many more then 40 men in the organization, but there are rules as to when they need to be put on the 40 man roster. You have to be on the 40 man roster in order to be called up and placed on the active 25 man roster at any time during the season.
Thanks Paul.