The Pittsburgh Pirates have claimed right-handed pitcher Josh Lindblom from the Oakland Athletics, and have outrighted right-handed pitcher Angel Sanchez off the 40-man roster to Indianapolis. The 40-man roster was at 39 before the move, so the decision to outright Sanchez was interesting. That could be a move designed to select a player in the Rule 5 draft later in the week.
Lindblom has 136.2 innings in the majors, mostly as a reliever. He’s got a career 3.82 ERA and a 4.47 xFIP. He only appeared in 4.2 innings last year with Oakland, making a spot start. He was a starter with the Rangers for a brief time in 2013. His numbers were much better in 2011-12 when he was strictly a reliever. He was also averaging 92 MPH with his fastball at that time, compared to 90 MPH the last two years when he was mostly starting. Lindblom mixes in a slider, curve, and a changeup, and has leaned on the changeup more heavily in the last two seasons.
Lindblom is out of options, which means he has to make the active roster out of Spring Training or be passed through waivers. My guess is that the Pirates claimed him to try and sneak him through waivers later in the off-season or in Spring Training. They’re in a spot right now where they only have to hope that eight other teams will pass on him in order to keep him in their system.