Author: mattbandi

Andrew McCutchen left tonight's game after being hit in the neck with a fastball. McCutchen passed all preliminary tests and was officially listed as day-to-day.

Steve Pearce will have surgery on his left knee Wednesday, ending his season.

Probable Starters LHP Travis Wood vs. RHP Ross Ohlendorf RHP Mike Leake vs. LHP Paul Maholm RHP Johnny Cueto vs. RHP Jeff Karstens

Starling Marte, previously rehabbing from hand surgery, has returned to High-A Bradenton.

The Pirates roster did not contain many obvious trade chips as we approached the 2010 trade deadline, but that did not keep Neal Huntington from wheeling and dealing today. Huntington utilized five players that he signed this past offseason, sending Ryan Church, Bobby Crosby and D.J. Carrasco to Arizona, Javier Lopez to the Giants and Octavio Dotel to the Dodgers. Let’s take a look at how all of these roster changes will affect the remainder of the 2010 season.

The Pirates traded reliever Javier Lopez to the Giants today for first baseman John Bowker and right-handed pitcher Joe Martinez. Both players will be assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis. The Bucs also dealt closer Octavio Dotel to the Dodgers for right-handed pitcher James McDonald and outfield prospect Andrew Lambo. The Pirates are paying Los Angeles $500,000. McDonald will join the major league team and Lambo will head to Double-A Altoona.

Possibly in preparation for an approaching trade, the Pirates have recalled Argenis Diaz and Jeff Clement from Triple-A Indianapolis.

The Pirates have acquired catcher Chris Snyder and a minor leaguer from the Diamondbacks. Arizona will receive D.J. Carrasco, Ryan Church and Bobby Crosby in the deal.

Pirates: McCutchen-CF Tabata-LF Walker-2B Jones-1B Alvarez-3B Milledge-RF Cedeno-SS Kratz-C Karstens-P Cardinals: Lopez-3B Jay-RF Pujols-1B Holliday-LF Rasmus-CF Molina-C Ryan-SS Carpenter-P Schumaker-2B

We are just a bit over 24 hours from the trade deadline, and the rumors are flying left and right. That being said, after being very active leading up to the past two deadlines, the Pirates have been relatively quiet so far this year. We have already taken a look at what Paul Maholm and Garrett Jones might fetch if the front office decided to deal them. Today, let’s take a look at Zach Duke.

Probable Pitchers Friday, July 30th - 8:15 PM: RHP Jeff Karstens vs RHP Chris Carpenter Saturday, July 31st - 7:15 PM: TBA vs. RHP Jeff Suppan Sunday, August 1st - 2:15 PM: LHP Zach Duke vs. RHP Adam Wainwright

Last night, Nate Rose of Stealing First Base took my recent article regarding Neil Walker and began digging deeper. He went to FanGraphs and took a look at Walker’s plate discipline numbers, wondering whether we should expect his walk rate to improve. Nate noted that Walker does not chase out of the zone all that much, and my interest was piqued.