With a hat-tip for rfffr for his fanpost this morning, the Diamondbacks news outlets are reporting that Wily Mo Pena (designated for assignment) and Juan Miranda (outrighted to AAA Reno) have been sent down to make room for Geoff Blum, returning from the disabled list, and Brandon Allen. This is the first of what one would hope would be several moves by the Diamondbacks front office before the trade deadline.
Juan Miranda was acquired from the New York Yankees for minor league pitcher Scott Allen. Throughout spring training, Kevin Towers assured the fans that "Miranda is our first baseman", but he struggled offensively ended up in a platoon role with Russell Branyan and Xavier Nady. Miranda hit only .213 in 202 plate appearances with 7 home runs and had some defensive miscues as well.
The return of Brandon Allen is a move long desired by the Diamondbacks faithful. He was acquired mid-season 2009 from the White Sox and put up great numbers in AAA as a power hitter, but the numbers haven't yet translated to success in the big leagues. He was a late August/September call-up in both 2009 (.202 AVG) and 2010 (.267). He had a rough start to the year with the Reno Aces but those numbers have rebounded lately and he's hitting .306 AVG/.427 OBP/.579 SLG. Welcome back, Brandon Allen!
Wily Mo Pena was signed to a minor league contract this winter and tore up the PCL hitting 21 home runs and a .363 average. Wily Mo hit some monster home runs, and his second deck shot in Milwaukee on the 4th of July sparked a comeback win. But he's never been a terribly good defensive player, and was only brought up to the big league Diamondbacks when interleague play began to be a Designated Hitter. Now that interleague play is over and Geoff Blum is healthy, it's his turn to go. He can still opt to take the assignment and stay with the Diamondbacks in Reno.
Geoff Blum signed a 2-year, $2.7M contract with Arizona in the off season. He was injured in Spring Training and this will be the first we've seen of him in months. He had a good rehab outing with the Reno Aces before the All-Star Break. Blum is a utility infielder/outfielder.