CHICAGO – The Braves made a roster move Sunday to avoid being short-handed on their bench, but due to a rule they weren’t aware of, they ended both short-handed on the bench and down one pitcher for the series finale against the Cubs.
After optioning reliever Chris Withrow to Triple-A Gwinnett and selecting the contract of switch-hitting utilityman Emilio Bonifacio from Gwinnett, the Braves were notified by Major League Baseball on Sunday morning that Bonifacio wasn’t eligible to be added to the 25-man roster.
Bonifacio, after being signed to a major league contract during the winter, was released by the Braves at end of spring training and then re-signed to a minor league contract. In circumstances like that, a player must wait 30 days after being released before he can be added to the 25-man major league roster.
That would make Bonifacio ineligible until this coming Saturday, 30 days after his April 6 release. Even if the 30-day period began the day a player was designated for assignment, Bonifacio wouldn’t have been eligible Sunday, as it had not been 30 days since his April 2 DFA date.
“It’s sort of a convoluted rule from MLB,” said Billy Ryan, Braves director of baseball operations, “It’s sort of a perfect storm of weird circumstances, the fact that he signed back with us after being released on the big league deal in spring training. And that sort of ties our hands with what we can do with him with respect to the next few days.”
Because the Braves only found out a few hours before their 1:20 p.m. game in Chicago, they didn’t have enough time to call up another player from the minors. Withrow had already boarded a flight out of Chicago.
Ryan said the Braves would make a corresponding roster move Monday before their series opener against the Mets at New York, presumably to bring up another position player who can provide a right-handed bat off the bench, which had been the purpose of bringing up Bonifacio.
The Braves released Bonifacio, 31, at the end of spring training because they didn’t see him as a good fit, after agreeing to terms on a $1.25 million contract in December but subsequently adding other players including Ender Inciarte via trade and free agents Kelly Johnson and Jeff Francoeur.
But then the Braves re-signed Bonifacio to a minor league deal April 10 and sent him to Gwinnett, where he he hit .333 (22-for-66) with three doubles, 10 stolen bases (in 13 attempts) and a .384 on-base percentage in 16 games. He was 5-for-16 with two doubles against left-handers.
“I was getting an opportunity to play (at Gwinnett) and getting my timing on the bases,” said Bonifacio, who hadn’t shown that base-stealing threat during spring training. “I was playing every day, getting a lot more time to work on approach and timing.”
He was excited Sunday morning to be back up, ready to start his 10th season in the big leagues.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Be ready to help the team try to win ballgames.”
But a few minutes later, manager Fredi Gonzalez asked Bonifacio to come to his office. Gonzalez, who has known him since Bonifacio played for two seasons on Gonzalez-managed Marlins teams in 2009-2010, had to break the news to him Sunday that due to a rule, they wouldn’t be able to activate him.
“It is unfortunate. We just spoke to Boni and explained it to him. We feel bad for him, having to explain that to him. We just have to move on from there. But it is unfortunate….
“There are a lot of convoluted rules, and it seems like we’re encountering a lot of them this first month. We’ve had a lot of moving pieces. The Boni deal is a little bit unorthodox. I’ve never seen a guy get released on a big-league deal, re-sign with the same team and wind up with the same team a month later.”
