The Pirates have placed Carmen Mlodzinski on Major League Baseball’s restricted list and recalled Cam Sanders from Class AAA Indianapolis.
Being on the restricted list is almost always a punitive measure that prevents the player from being paid based on the presumed violation of his contract, most commonly being unavailable to play for non-baseball or personal reasons. In addition to not being paid, players don’t accrue major-league service time and don’t count against the 40-man roster.
Per Ben Cherington, “Carmen informed us this morning morning that he wasn’t ready to pitch today, so we made the decision to place him on the restricted list and recall Cam Sanders.”
His full session:
Mlodzinski had voiced his displeasure with management’s decision Thursday to move him from the rotation to the bullpen and, in doing so, made known that he’d discussed the matter with family and representation.
Cherington said Mlodzinski hadn’t requested a trade and “I have belief that he’ll pitch for us on the road trip. But we’ll take it a day at a time.”
A source told DK Pittsburgh Sports that Mlodzinski felt he wasn’t physically or mentally ready to help the team win today in a relief role and that, rather than have the team play a man short or to be called upon and not be ready, he was honest that he wasn’t ready to pitch today.”
The source added that he’ll be “100 percent on board with new role” and ready for it come Tuesday in Houston, where he intends to address the traveling media at that time.