The Phillies today announced that setup reliever Mike Adams has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with ongoing biceps tendinitis. The team's most expensive offseason addition already has taken four losses on the season, and pitched to a 5.40 ERA since being activated from the DL following a back injury last month. To take his spot in the bullpen, the team has recalled pitcher J.C. Ramirez, whom you might remember as the third man acquired from the Mariners in the infamous December 2009 Cliff Lee trade. Raise your hand if you figured Ramirez would be with the team while fellow Lee trade piece Phillippe Aumont languished in triple-A. Yeah, me too.
Ramirez hasn't exactly blown away the high minors in 2013. In 27 games split between AA Reading and AAA Lehigh Valley, he's gone 3-2 with a 5.30 ERA and a 1.69 WHIP. Those numbers are considerably worse at the higher level. But he's had a couple decent appearances in the last week, which apparently is all it takes to get an audition in the Phils' bullpen these days. (Jake Diekman says hi.)
At the risk of having buried the lede, I should note that to create room on the 40-man roster for Ramirez, TGP favorite Michael Martinez has been designated for assignment. I'm going to go way out on a limb and suggest that Mini-Mart won't have a long line of suitors, so he'll probably find himself right back at LHV in ten days' time. But at least this makes another appearance with the big team less likely. Small victories, my friends.