Yesterday was a deadline for optioning prospects to the minors without risking starting their service clocks, and because of that we saw a lot of prospect demotions that had nothing to do with baseball. The Nationals sent Stephen Strasburg to Double-A where he will begin his professional career, and the Pirates sent Pedro Alvarez and Jose Tabata to Triple-A. Many other prospects were optioned, including:
- Yonder Alonso - CIN - AA
- Jason Donald - CLE - AAA
- Carlos Santana - CLE - AAA
- Nick Weglarz - CLE - AA
- Sergio Escalona - PHI - AA
- Mark Trumbo - LAA - AAA
- Michael Saunders - SEA - AAA
- Fernando Abad - HOU - AAA
- Brett Sinkbeil - FLA - AAA
- Aaron Crow - KC - AA
- Dayan Viciedo - CWS - AAA
- Noel Arguelles - KC - High-A
- Trevor Bell - LAA - AAA
- Dustin Ackley - SEA - AA
- Dan Cortes - SEA - AA
- Jeremy Hellickson - TB - AAA
- Desmond Jennings - TB - AAA
- Josh Thole - NYM - AAA
- Brandon Erbe - BAL - AAA
- Scott Elbert - LAD - AAA
- Juan Ramirez - PHI - AA
- Brad Lincoln - PIT - AAA
- Gorkys Hernandez - PIT - AA
- Jose Iglesias - BOS - AA
- Andrew Brackman - NYY - High-A
- Jake McGee - TB - AAA
For a full list of transactions, you can visit the MLB.com player transaction page.
