Author: mattbandi

The Pirates have selected Texas high school pitcher Jameson Taillon with the second overall pick in the 2010 draft. Taillon throws a fastball in the mid-to-low nineties. He also possesses a plus curve and slider. He is immediately the top pitching prospect in the system, and he challenges Pedro Alvarez as the organization's top overall prospect.

A few minutes ago on his weekly radio show, Neal Huntington stated that Brad Lincoln is definitely a candidate to make his major league debut on Wednesday night. Huntington would not confirm either way.

The Pirates demoted pitcher Brian Burres to Triple-A Indianapolis today. The move makes room for the recently acquired Dana Eveland.

Top catching prospect Tony Sanchez left tonight's High-A Bradenton game after being hit in the head with a pitch. Dejan Kovacevic reports that the injury does not appear to be serious.

Minor league pitcher Donnie Veal will undergo Tommy John surgery on Friday. He will miss the remainder of the season.

After a brief slump, Tony Sanchez recently resumed his domination over the Florida State League. Ryan Doumit is hitting well, with a .360 wOBA. He is 29-years-old, has an injury history and is lousy defensively. The Pirates have decent catching depth in the upper minor leagues. The conditions for a Doumit trade are almost ideal.

The Pirates traded minor league reliever Ronald Uviedo to the Blue Jays for starting pitcher Dana Eveland today. Eveland will join the Pirates rotation.

I find almost nothing even remotely interesting about Dana Eveland. He is essentially a poor-man’s Zach Duke, without the good control. I have no idea what Neal Huntington sees in him, other than a high ground ball rate. Giving up a prospect with a live arm to acquire him is perplexing.

While Jose Tabata is certainly having an encouraging year at Indy, a .786 OPS at Triple-A should not be considered big numbers. He is hitting .316, but it is mostly empty batting average. Many fans expect him to be called up to Pittsburgh within a few weeks and inject some offense into the Pirates lineup. I just don’t see that happening.

According to John Russell, Neil Walker will receive the majority of playing time at second base moving forward. This pushes Aki Iwamura to the bench. With Iwamura out of the lineup, Andrew McCutchen has moved back to the leadoff spot.

The Pirates placed Charlie Morton on the disabled list yesterday with a fatigued shoulder. Reliever Steven Jackson replaced him on the Pirates' roster.

Triple-A starter Donnie Veal has been placed on the minor league disabled list.