A's Claim Lefty; Move Ellis To 60-Day DL

Without a lefty in their bullpen since Jerry Blevins was sent back to Triple-A Sacramento, the Oakland A's claimed left-handed specialist Craig Breslow off of waivers from the Minnesota Twins. We have the details of this move and a few minor league moves inside...

A's Acquire Breslow; Move Ellis To 60-Day DL

Left-hander Craig Breslow has been claimed off of waivers by the Oakland A's, the team announced on Wednesday. The Yale graduate had been released by the Minnesota Twins this week.

Breslow has appeared in the big leagues in parts of three seasons. A 26th round pick by the Milwaukee Brewers out of Yale in 2002, Breslow made his big league debut with San Diego in 2005. He pitched for the Boston Red Sox in 2006. In 2008, he began the year with Cleveland, but spent most of the season with the Twins. He had a 1.63 ERA and a .180 BAA in 38.2 innings with the Twins last season.

Breslow is off to a rocky start this season. In 14.1 innings with Minnesota, he had a 6.28 ERA, although opposing batters were hitting only .220 against him, though he had walked 11. For his career, he has a 2.91 ERA in 89.2 major league innings.

The left-hander is, not surprisingly, very tough against left-handed hitters. In his major league career, he has held opposing lefties to a .191 BAA. He features a fastball in the 88-91 range with a cutter, curveball, change-up and slider.

Breslow, dubbed the "smartest man in baseball" by Minnesota Star Tribune writer La Velle Neal, graduated from Yale in 2002 with a double-major in molecular biophysics and biochemistry.

To make room for Breslow on the A's 40-man roster, Oakland moved Mark Ellis to the 60-day DL. He is sidelined with a severe calf strain. The A's will announce a move involving their 25-man roster when Breslow reports to the team.

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A's Make Minor Moves, As Well

In addition to the shifting to the A's minor league rosters we detailed yesterday, the team made a few more moves this morning. Right-hander Justin Murray was sent from High-A Stockton to Low-A Kane County. Murray had a 6.04 ERA in 25.1 innings for the Ports. He swaps spots with fellow K-State alum Ben Hornbeck, who was promoted from Kane County to Stockton yesterday.

The Ports lost two more players, closer Jonathan Hunton and infielder Alexander Valdez, to promotions to Double-A Midland. Hunton, who signed with the A's as a minor league free agent this off-season, was off to a terrific start with Stockton. In 20 innings, he had a 1.80 ERA and 27 strike-outs against six walks. The 6'9'' right-hander was 2-0 with six saves.

Valdez leaves Stockton with mediocre overall numbers, but those numbers are somewhat deceiving. The switch-hitter began the season by batting .058 in 15 games in April. He completely turned around his season in May, batting .403 with two homers and 16 RBIs. For the year, he is hitting .258 with a 666 OPS. Valdez has walked only four times in 124 at-bats, however.