Sorry I didn't get this out sooner, I got the news broken to me on the drive home, so I'm just getting here to post.
I for one will say I'm shocked and surprised they made this move. It just doesn't make sense to me. They don't need a 5th starter for 10 more days and don't need 12 pitchers anyways. I think having 12 pitchers is too much, especially when you have pitchers making 2 outings a month. Yes Burke wasn't doing well(.234 average), but it wasn't a very big chance... not enough of a chance in my opinion.
I got to hear Burke on 790 today while driving home and it's quite obvious he's really upset/pissed about this. He mentioned that he has to decide whether to report or not and basically just displayed his overall disgust with the way things have went down for him while he has been an Astros. They also played a quote from Berkman that basically said that he disagreed with the move, and that the reasoning for sending him down(that Garner/Purpura think he needs regular playing time to help develop) was flawed and makes sense for younger players, but not for someone as old as Burke.