- Pirates signed Chris Jakubauskus off waivers from the Seattle Mariners.
- What we later found out was the reason for signing Chris Jakubauskus, the Pirates designated Jeff Karstens for assignment, which means he will go through waivers and will most likely never play for the Pirates again. This was kind of upsetting, because Karstens showed definite promise in the long relief role last year. However, he had gotten Super 2 status in free agency, so the Pirates were going to have to pay him more than he was worth.
- In case you are wondering what it means to get "Super 2" status, here's the basics -The top 17 percent of players with at least 2 but less than 3 years of Major League service. These are known as "Super 2" players. To qualify as a Super 2, a player must have accumulated at least 86 days of service in the previous year. Historically, the cutoff point for Super 2 status is 2 years, 128 days of service, though the requirement has been as high as 2 years, 140 days in years past.
- The Pirates also designed Robinzon Diaz and Justin Thomas for assignment, I personally don't like to see Robinzon go, but it clears the way for some prospects that we acquire in the Rule 5, which is always good.
- Brad Lincoln, Bryan Morris, and Gorkys Hernandez were all added to the 40-man roster to protect them from being selected in the Rule-5 Draft. I do expect to see Lincoln in Pittsburgh this year, but I would not expect to see Morris or Hernandez next year.
- Evan Meek and Jose Ascanio were moved from the 60-day DL to the 40-man roster.
The story with Chris Jakubauskus is not a very pretty one. Last year was his first season in the major leagues, even though he is 30 years old. He went 6-7 with a 5.32 ERA in 93.0 innings. He started 8 games and appeared out of the bullpen 27 times. His K/9 ratio is 4.5, which is nothing to be excited about. Hopefully he will get it together and eat some innings for the Pirates in the middle of games next year, I certainly do not want to see him in the rotation.
In other news, I am working on taking my blog to the next level by purchasing a domain name and running it off of the mlblogosphere, which will give me a multitude of new options and make the blog a lot better. So be on the lookout for that.