Cleveland Indians News: May 17, 2013: Vinnie Pestano Recalled, Nick Hagadone Optioned

We'll combine news and transactions in one place today.First, the Indians made a roster move yesterday that was expected:

Indians option Nick Hagadone to Triple-A | indians.com: News

The @indians option LHP Nick Hagadone to Triple-A Columbus.

— MLBRosterMoves (@MLBRosterMoves) May 16, 2013

The second half of the move, although it's not official yet, will be to activate Vinnie Pestano from the Disabled List. Vinnie threw an inning in Lake County on Wednesday, so it appears that everything checked out afterwards. Hagadone has struggled with command of late, and he'll go back to Columbus for a time to work on that. That still leaves eight pitchers in the bullpen, which seems to be Terry Francona's preference, with David Huff as the second left-hander. If you would have told me before the season that at any point David Huff would be in Cleveland while both Nick Hagadone and Scott Barnes would be in Columbus (and healthy), I wouldn't have believed you. But here we are.

Here's the latest 25-man/40-man roster, assuming that Pestano is activated tonight:

Last night's games of note

Rangers 10, Tigers 4: What pitcher's duel? Verlander rocked for eight runs in blowout loss - Bless You Boys

What was expected to be a pitcher's duel turned out to be anything but. Justin Verlander was rocked again, leaving in the third inning this time, and the Rangers cruised to a 10-4. That means that the Indians are back in a first-place tie.

White Sox 5, Angels 4: Jeff Keppinger makes first walk count - South Side Sox

The big news in this game is that Jeff Keppinger walked. Why is this news? Well, not only was it a bases-loaded walk, it was his first walk of the season (141 Plate Appearances). Keppinger had I believe already set a White Sox record for plate appearances without a walk to start a season, and he was gunning for the major-league record before the streak ended.

So here's what the AL Central standings look like this morning:

This is the tightest division, first to last, in baseball, and the division has done surprisingly well against the other divisions. For instance, the AL Central collectively has a 28-15 record against the AL West.

Other News

An update on SB Nation site performance - Blog Huddle

From Tuesday evening through this morning, there's been outages through the network. Many of you have been unable access this site with any regularity over the past two days. I appreciate the patience you've shown during all this. The good news is that the worst seems to be over, and that things will be back to 100% by the end of the weekend.