RHP Kris Benson signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
SS Jason Donald and C Carlos Santana optioned to AAA Columbus.
* This means Lou Marson will most likely be on the Indians to start the year.
RHP Drew Carpenter optioned to Lehigh Valley
SS Brian Bocock optioned to Lehigh Valley. Looks like we know of at least two infielders for the Pig’s 2010 season, Andy Tracy being the other.
LHP Sergio Escalona optioned to AA Reading.
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
It sounds as if Escalona is going backwards in the organization. I think it will be good for him to go back to Reading, close some games, regain some confidence, and then go back to AAA.
He did great last year in Reading, not so good in Lehigh Valley. Time will tell.
I’d rather have Escalona than all those other 30 something pitchers they brought into camp. Last I heard some of those older guys weren’t looking too good this spring.
The Cardinals released 2008 International League pitcher of the year, knuckleballer Charlie Zink, and it looks like the J-Hey Kid won’t be visiting Coca-Cola Park with Gwinnett as the Braves announced that 20 year old #1 prospect Jason Heyward made the big club.
That’s really interesting about Charlie Zink. I would love to see him pitch in a Pig’s uniform.. just for the entertainment factor of a knuckleballer. That same feeling that you get when Swindle threw the 55 mph change up.
It wasn’t too long ago the topic of Dice-K at Coca-Cola Park was brought up, but do you remember what happened the next night? The Morning Call headline (plus a portion of the article) for that game is below. The date of the game was June 17, 2008.
“Knuckleballer Zink silences IronPigs’ bats”
Zink (8-2, 2.14 ERA) got 10 groundball outs in limiting Lehigh Valley to one hit (an Andy Tracy double) through 6 1/3 innings.
Mike Cervenak singled, stole second and scored on Tracy’s hit to ruin the shutout in the seventh, but that was it for the IronPigs.
Zink left after the seventh with a four-hitter and LV’s frustrations continued against two relievers.
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Zink’s line: 7IP, 4H, 1ER, 0BB, 2SO
The losing pitcher was J.A. Happ with his record falling to 4-6.
Zink was nearly unstoppable in 2008 and 2009.. really confused me when Boston left him go. I was sure he was heir to Wakefield’s spot in the rotation. Now that St. Louis has cut him (was wondering where you saw that too) it makes me think it could be his health or just the team’s patience to accept the knuckleball.
I was just looking over that BA blog to see what other transactions looked interesting. The 2 that caught my attention:
Cincinnati options 1B Yonder Alonso to AAA. Alonso was a college superstar in 2008 for Miami hitting .370 with 24 HR.
Pittsburgh options 3B Pedro Alvarez to AAA. Another 2008 All American out of Vanderbilt who hit 27 homeruns between A & AA in 2009.
It’s always interesting to see top prospects from other teams pass through the Lehigh Valley.
Link to Zink:
http://interact.stltoday.com/blogzone/bird-land/bird-land/2010/03/cardinals-minor-league-releases-include-st-louisan-mitchell/