Indians release Nyjer Morgan, call up Josh Tomlin, option Tyler Holt

The Indians have recalled Josh Tomlin from Triple-A Columbus, and he will start tonight's game against the Reds. In order to make room for Tomlin on the 25-man roster, the Indians have optioned Tyler Holt back to Columbus. In a separate, unrelated moved, the Tribe have also released outfielder Nyjer Morgan.

Let's tackle those three players on at a time:

Tomlin's 4.47 ERA isn't good, but looking at his other numbers, it seems he's been at least a little unlucky. He has the highest strikeout rate of his career (8.00 K/9 and a 21.3 K%), along with an elite walk rate (1.04 BB/9 and a 2.8 BB%). The home run has been his undoing. He's pitched some great games this year, but also some terrible ones, and in the last couple months, there have been more bad ones.

I'm not really sure what the organization is doing with Holt. He began the season in Double-A, did well enough to get promoted to Triple-A, and hit even better, in addition to showing strong base-running skills and playing plus defense in the outfield. He was called up five days ago, but mostly just sat on the bench. I'd rather have him playing in Columbus than watching in Cleveland, but I also think he merited a little more playing time, given that Ryan Raburn is still holding a roster spot.

Morgan was brought into camp for spring training, and hit surprisingly well, and then filled in for Michael Bourn at the start of the season, and continued to hit, batting .348 in the first dozen games of the season, before heading down to Columbus when Bourn was ready. Morgan came back up in early May, and was batting .341/.429/.439 when he badly sprained his knee on May 14.

Morgan may be nearly ready to return from that injury, and his release is probably something of a courtesy from the team. They apparently don't prefer him to other options at the moment, and this move will allow Morgan (if in fact he is healthy) to try and catch on with a team that will give him some playing time.

Morgan's batting average and on-base percentage both rank in the top ten in franchise history among players with 50+ PA, so while his time here was brief, he should be remembered fondly (to the extent that he's remembered at all).