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Marlon Byrd has fractured wrist, Reds call up Ivan De Jesus, Jr., release Donald Lutz

Marlon Byrd has a fractured wrist. What happens next is anyone's guess.

By Wick Terrell
The culprit! Cueto with the high-five in the batter's box!
The culprit! Cueto with the high-five in the batter's box!
Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

With the news from late Tuesday that Marlon Byrd had left in the 6th inning of the Cincinnati Reds game and was diagnosed with a fractured wrist, it was inevitable that the team would be doing some roster shuffling prior to Wednesday evening's game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The first leak came from Jamie Ramsey, who informed us that Ivan De Jesus, Jr. would be getting called up to the big league club.

De Jesus, 28, was hitting .303/.378/.384 in Louisville, and he's an infielder - albeit one who is dang versatile and has experience at all four infield positions.  The Reds had been carrying a short bench, so there was at least some thought that De Jesus may join the team in a bench role in exchange for one of the surplus relievers on the roster, and that another minor leaguer would be called up to correspond with placing Byrd on the DL later in the day.  De Jesus also was not on the 40 man roster prior to Wednesday, which meant a straight placement of Byrd on the 15-day DL wouldn't be the only move of the day regardless.

Then things got interesting.

According to The Enquirer's C. Trent Rosecrans, the Reds' medical staff may be up to their old tricks once again.

So, the news of the day is that the team's everyday LF may well have been playing with a fractured wrist before being hit by O'Sullivan's pitch on Tuesday, and that it doesn't appear that the Reds will use the DL before Wednesday's game despite the fact that De Jesus will be in Philadelphia.  That means the Reds will not only have a short bench due to having 13 pitchers on the roster already, they'll be short because Byrd will apparently still be on the 25 man roster at the start of the game...even though he's in Cincinnati.

Marlon Byrd.  Fractured wrist.  Active roster.

This is where I mention that the Reds opted to carry Devin Mesoraco on the active roster for some 40 days after learning that a hip impingement would prevent him from playing in the field.  This is also where I mention that Mesoraco was kept around for his seemingly valuable pinch-hitting ability, yet when he was finally replaced on the roster, he was replaced by a pitcher - not a hitter.

This all sounds so much like the Reds stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.  More as it develops.

UPDATE [5:40 ET]

It appears the Reds will actually make a roster move today to get De Jesus, Jr. on the active roster.  Unfortunately, it means that half-elbowed Red Reporter favorite Donald Lutz has been released to clear space.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Reds place on the 15-day DL Marlon Byrd, select from Class AAA Louisville the contract of Ivan DeJesus Jr. (#3) and release Donald Lutz.</p>&mdash; #VoteReds (@Reds) <a href="https://twitter.com/Reds/status/606212715175116800">June 3, 2015</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

So long, Knockwurst.

/cracks hefeweizen

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