Nationals option Craig Stammen to Syracuse to make room for Ryan Zimmerman

June 14, 2011 3:12 PM by Ben Goessling View Comments

The Nationals have officially activated Ryan Zimmerman from the disabled list, but the corresponding move is a bit of a surprise: They sent reliever Craig Stammen to Triple-A Syracuse.

I thought they'd send down Brian Bixler, but at least for now, they'll go with a six-man bullpen and 11-man pitching staff. I'll have more on the thinking behind the move later today.