Chad Moeller Called Up, Jeff Natale Signed by New York Yankees

Here are a couple of quick items this afternoon.

According to Jack Curry of the YES Network, the Yankees have called up veteran catcher Chad Moeller from Triple-A Scranton to replace Jorge Posada , who could miss up to a month with a broken foot.

To make room for him on the 40-man roster, the Yankees transferred Nick Johnson to the 60-day DL.

Moeller will serve primarily as the backup to Francisco Cervelli. In 29 at-bats in Triple-A this season Moeller is batting .207 with a .233 OBP and a .310 slugging. No, he’s not going to beat anybody with his bat; he is just here until Posada returns.

For those of you who don’t remember, Moeller was actually with the Yankees in 2008. Back then both Posada and Jose Molina were dealing with injuries, forcing the Yankees to sign the journeyman. He played in 41 games and in 91 at-bats put up a .231 average and a .640 OPS. In 89 at-bats with the Orioles last season Moeller had a .751 OPS.

According to Pete Cava of the Pennsylvania Times Leader, the Yankees also signed 27-year-old infielder Jeff Natale. Natale is pure minor league fodder at this point and will report to Scranton.

Originally drafted in the 32nd round of the 2005 draft, Natale has spent his entire pro career in the Red Sox organization. He put up some pretty good numbers too. In five full seasons in the minors Natale has a .297 average, a .431 OBP, a .445 SLG, and a .876 OPS.

I’m not sure why Natale never got a shot in the major leagues—it was most likely due to an injury in 2008—but he isn’t likely to get much of a shot with the Yankees either. They have too many infielders, including Kevin Russo, Eduardo Nunez, and David Adams, who would probably get a shot before him.

The Yankees likely signed him for depth since they’ve got so many injuries shaking up the roster from the majors on down.

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