The Orioles have designated righty Evan Meek for assignment off of the 25-man roster, the club announced. Meek will be kept on the 40-man roster and placed on optional assignment waivers tomorrow, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter links).
Baltimore has recalled fellow righty Brad Brach to take Meek’s place on the active roster; as Kubatko explains, the club had to wait to bring him back up until today because he had not yet been in the minors for the necessary ten-day period. The club can keep Meek in the fold because Brach did not need to take his slot on the 40-man, meaning that Meek was not replaced on the 40-man by the move. He could not, however, be sent down without passing through optional assignment waivers — which are revocable — because he is more than three years removed from his first MLB appearance.
Meek, 31, signed a minor league deal with Baltimore over the offseason. Through 11 2/3 big league innings, he has allowed nine earned runs and struck out nine against six free passes. Over 184 1/3 career innings, most of them with the Pirates, Meek has a 3.56 ERA with 7.5 K/9 against 4.7 BB/9. His best season came in 2010, when he put up a 2.14 ERA in 80 innings for Pittsburgh.
