A few familiar names are back on the Reds’ active roster at last, putting pressure on some different people for a change.

Ryan Hanigan came off the DL on Friday. He’d been out since July 11 with a left wrist sprain. To make room for Hanigan, they put Corky Miller on the DL with a “right quadriceps contusion” or, in other words, one of our heroes sustained a slight bruise to the upper arm. Lucky thing for the Reds that their catchers are so cooperative in scheduling their injuries to make sure there’s always someone for the rotation to throw at.

Jonathan Broxton made his first post-DL appearance on Friday. He’d been on the DL since June with a strain in his right elbow. He’s looked good in his appearances since then, and no one is complaining that they had to send down Pedro Villarreal to make room on the roster. (Well, Villarreal probably is, but that’s to be expected.)

Robinson is out, even if maybe he shouldn’t be.. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

The same cannot be said for Derrick Robinson, who was optioned to Louisville yesterday to make room for the returning Ryan Ludwick. He’s been filling in for Ludwick since the second game of the season. Reds.com quoted Dusty Baker as saying:

“That was a tough decision to send Robinson back,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “But he will be back in a couple of weeks and on our playoff roster. His shoulder was bothering him some and we gave him a couple of days off. He was the only one who had options. Sometimes, you can’t make the moves that you want.”

That’s sort of surprising from Baker. He isn’t often so direct in saying, “there’s someone else I wish I could send down.” The same story on Reds.com implies he was Xavier Paul he was talking about, who hasn’t performed as well defensively. But Paul was a hero yesterday, tying the game with a pinch-hit 2-run home run. And besides, he’s been doing better than Chris Heisey. Baker’s put him in more games (82 to 55), and Paul has hit better (.239 to .209).

Whatever the team wished they could have done, they’ve got Ludwick on the roster now and with him comes all Reds fans’ hopes for a division run. Finally we’ll have a right-handed hitter and a guy who can maybe knock in a run once in a while. But don’t try to take it all on yourself, Luddy. We don’t need you to add shoulder problems to your list of potential ailments.