Melillo Recalled; Bradley DFA'd

In a surprising move, the Oakland A's announced on Thursday that outfielder Milton Bradley had been designated for assignment. Taking Bradley's place on the roster will be top infield prospect Kevin Melillo, who will be making his major league debut with the A's in New York this weekend.

This move comes one day after Milton Bradley was activated off of the disabled list. Bradley had been on the DL with a calf strain. It was his third time on the DL this season. The A's initially did not announce a reason for why they designated Bradley for assignment, but GM Billy Beane later addressed the media at a conference call and indicated that he felt there would be diminished playing time for Bradley as other players came off of the DL and that Bradley wouldn't likely be happy not playing every day.

Replacing Bradley on the roster for now will be Kevin Melillo, who is the A's top second base prospect. Melillo's presence will be important in the upcoming New York Mets series, as A's starting third baseman Eric Chavez's sore rib flared up during the A's win on Wednesday and his availability may be in question during the team's series against the Mets.

Melillo has played mostly at second base during his career, but he played some third base in the Arizona Fall League in 2006 and during major league spring training and got good reviews for his work there from coaches. Melillo has an 833 OPS for Sacramento this season.

Melillo was drafted in 2004 by the A's out of South Carolina, where he was a teammate with former A's prospect Marcus McBeth and current A's prospect Landon Powell. Melillo was OaklandClubhouse.com's Player of the Year in 2005, when he hit 24 homers for three separate A's affiliates. Last year, Melillo hit .280 with 12 homers for Double-A Midland.

Melillo joins Travis Buck, Connor Robertson, Dallas Braden and Kurt Suzuki as players to make their major league debuts with the A's this season.