Watson, Carson up, Jackson DLed, Mortensen sent down

Conor  Jackson was placed on the 15-day DL and the A's called up two outfielders, Matt  Carson, who is up for the third time this season, and old friend Matt  Watson, who last played in the majors in 2005 with the A's.  They cleared an extra roster spot by sending Clayton Mortensen down to AAA, as the 5th starter spot is not needed until after the All-Star Break.


Jackson had cooled off after a hot start (though some of that could have been his hamstring problem) --- he's at .267/.365/.311 in his 14 games with the A's, not exactly allaying any doubts we have about his power returning after his bout with Valley Fever.  Carson has 9 ABs with the A's this season and is hitting a very solid .301/.376/.534.  The most interesting part of the transaction is Watson, though --- a 31 year old journeyman, he was just signed by the A's out of an independent league (he played in Japan in 2007, Korea in 2009 and all through the minors and indy ball the past few years) and has been raking at Sacramento with a line of .313/.358/.600.


I remember talking with Watson's wife and maybe his brother or brother-in-law or something similar at spring training in 2005 and talking about the financial struggles of a journeyman minor leaguer, so it's nice for me to see him get some big-league time after 5 years.  It's not likely to be long, but you never know.


Also, over the past few days the A's claimed pitcher Jeff  Lyman off waivers from the Braves, signed Boof  Bonser to a minor league deal and signed a top Venezuelan prospect for $2.2 million (always nice to see the A's spend money).  Lyman, 23, is a San Francisco native and a former 2nd round pick who has been working out of the bullpen and struggled at the AAA level --- I guess if you have a 40-man spot open for him that's fine, but he seems pretty fungible and is at AA right now.  Bonser made a couple of appearances for the Red Sox earlier this year and still throws hard, but if he sees time in the majors, it probably isn't a good sign for the A's.