Eckstein Hits the DL, Venable Activated

The Padres placed second baseman David Eckstein on the 15-day DL with a strained calf yesterday, and activated outfielder Will Venable from the DL to take Eckstein’s roster spot.

Eckstein was hurt sliding into home in the first game of the Padres’ series with Atlanta.

Venable struck out 10 times in 20 at-bats in his rehab assignment between Lake Elsinore and San Antonio, but did manage six walks and three hits. He’s 0-for-3 with three walks in two games since his return from the DL.

The most interesting development here is that the Padres elected to bring up Venable and not Triple-A infielder Lance Zawadzki, who’s served as San Diego’s utilityman when shortstop Everth Cabrera‘s been hurt. Instead, the team is using Oscar Salazar as the backup second baseman. The idea of putting Salazar at second appealed to me in the preseason, when it looked like he was a .300 hitter with gap power, but he has a sub-.600 OPS at the plate this year, and his well-below-average defense at second will just make things worse. Hopefully, though, getting more opportunities to play will wake Salazar’s bat up.