Braves infielder Pedro Ciriaco was in line to win the final spot on the major-league bench this season, but after the team acquired Cameron Maybin on Sunday, manager Fredi Gonzalez had to tell Ciriaco that he wouldn't be on the Opening Day roster, the Atlanta Journal-Consitution reports.
"You guys see it at the top level with (Craig) Kimbrel, but you didn’t see it with Ciriaco. That was tough," Gonzalez said. “Here’s a guy on Saturday, you bring him into the office and he’s scared to death, because he doesn’t know what’s going to happen. And I say, congratulations, you made the team, barring anything crazy. And he starts crying. He had expected to be sent down. I tell him he had a hell of a spring and all the reasons we’re going to go with him, and he starts crying and he goes, 'It’s the first time I’ve made an Opening Day roster.' Well, (expletive), 12 hours later he’s not on the Opening Day roster, and you’ve got to have that conversation. I mean, it’s tough sometimes."
Ciriaco, who was reassigned to Triple-A Gwinett in the wake of the Kimbrel-Maybin trade, hit .373/.387/.492 in 59 spring at-bats.