LaRoche activated, optioned

He'll stay right where he is, at Triple-A Las Vegas. This amounts to a tacit endorsement of rookie 3B Blake DeWitt, a guy who less than three months ago reported to minor-league spring training and now finds himself hitting a respectable .278 in the majors. On the flip side, if you're Andy LaRoche, I would imagine this is a tough pill to swallow. He came to big-league camp with a shot to win the job, got hurt, went on a minor-league rehab and ends up being sent out. When LaRoche suffered that torn UCL in his right thumb on March 7, the prognosis was that he would miss eight to 10 weeks AFTER his surgery, which took place a few days later. He beat that by a few days, coming off the 15-day disabled list eight weeks and one day after the INJURY, not the SURGERY. And you can bet he WILL be in the majors sometime this year.