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Pirates Place Juan Cruz On Restricted List

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The Pirates announced that they placed right-hander Juan Cruz on the restricted list so he can return to the Dominican Republic and attend to some personal business. The club has selected the contract of Doug Slaten from Triple-A in a related move.

Cruz, 33, signed a one-year, $1.25MM contract in February and has a 1.45 ERA with 7.7 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in 18 2/3 innings so far this year. Players on the restricted list do not count toward a team's 25-man or 40-man roster. They do not accrue service time and they don't always get paid.

Rosenthal On Pirates, Astros, Rangers

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The acquisition of right-handers Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom has proved integral to the Orioles' early season success. The same cannot be said for Jeremy Guthrie, sent to the Rockies by Baltimore in the same trade, as the right-hander has struggled in injury-limited action for Colorado. Let's check in with Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports as he catches us up on news and rumors from around the league in his latest column:

  • The Pirates may be strong candidates to trade pitching for hitting the way the Mariners did when they traded Michael Pineda for Jesus Montero. While the Pirates' offense averages fewer than three runs per game their pitching staff has offered glimmers of hope. More specifically, the Pirates' bullpen leads the league in relief ERA with a plethora of quality relievers waiting for an opportunity at Triple-A Indianapolis.
  • Count Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow among the believers who think that the Astros may be buyers at the trade deadline given their plus-11 run differential heading into Memorial Day. “I do think so,” Luhnow said. “I don’t necessarily know if we’ll take on a whole bunch of salary. But we’ll look at every opportunity that comes our way, evaluate it in terms of short-term impact and medium and long-term impact. Look for Houston to attempt to trade Wandy Rodriguez, Carlos Lee and Brett Myers if the team begins to mimic last year's 106-loss club.
  • The inability to move right-hander Koji Uehara during the offseason and later during Spring Training has paid huge dividends for the Rangers this season. After struggling in Arlington upon being acquired from the Orioles, Uehara has rebounded nicely in 2012 by posting a 1.04 ERA with 9.9 K/9 and 1.0 BB/9.

Pirates Designate Nate McLouth For Assignment

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The Pirates announced that they designated outfielder Nate McLouth for assignment. The club recalled Matt Hague in a corresponding move.

McLouth signed a one-year, $1.75MM deal with the Pirates this past offseason after spending two and a half years in Atlanta. Now 30, McLouth was viewed as a future star when the Pirates traded him to the Braves three years ago. But he didn't hit in Atlanta and he has just a .385 OPS in 62 plate appearances back in Pittsburgh.

Hague, who appeared in five MLB games earlier this season, has a .278/.325/.333 batting line at Triple-A this year. The right-handed hitter has considerable minor league experience at first and third.

Rays Acquire Drew Sutton

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The Rays announced that they acquired Drew Sutton from the Pirates for a player to be named. The infielder's stay in Pittsburgh was a short one; the Pirates acquired him from the Braves for cash considerations less than 24 hours ago. The Rays expect Sutton to join them tonight, at which point they'll make a corresponding move.

Sutton has a .258/.322/.403 batting line line in 178 MLB plate appearances with the Reds, Red Sox and Indians. The 28-year-old has MLB experience at all four infield positions and both corner outfield positions. He signed a minor league deal with Atlanta this past offseason and played 38 games for Triple-A Gwinnett before yesterday's trade.

The switch-hitting Sutton will provide Rays manager Joe Maddon with infield depth while Evan Longoria and Brandon Allen recover from their respective leg injuries. Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune first tweeted the news.

NL Central Notes: Pirates, Rizzo, Lucroy

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The Cubs traded Kyle Lohse to the Twins in a four-player trade on this date in 1999. Lohse, now a member of the Cardinals' rotation, is putting together a strong season as he approaches free agency. Here's the latest from the NL Central…

  • The Pirates are "laughably overdue" for some offense, Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. Though few trades are completed in May and more teams than ever are in the playoff race thanks to the additional Wild Card berths, Kovacevic says the Pirates must find a way to add offense. No team in baseball has scored fewer runs than the Pirates, who are averaging just 2.9 runs per game.
  • Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com hears that the Cubs will be patient with Anthony Rizzo and that a promotion isn’t likely this month (Twitter link). The Cubs acquired the first base prospect from the Padres for Andrew Cashner last offseason, but first baseman Bryan LaHair is hitting well at the MLB level.
  • The Brewers' decision to lock Jonathan Lucroy to an extension looks wise, Heyman writes. The 25-year-old catcher has a .342/.389/.550 batting line in 132 plate appearances this year.

Pirates Acquire Drew Sutton From Braves

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The Pirates have acquired infielder Drew Sutton from the Braves in exchange for cash considerations, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.  Sutton, 28, owns a .258/.322/.403 slash line in 178 big league plate appearances.

The utility man signed a minor league contract with Atlanta in November.  Sutton was hitting .267/.373/.363 in 37 games for Triple-A Gwinnett this season.  He'll be assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis, and Biertempfel tweets that he expects the club to make a corresponding move.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Quick Hits: Pirates, Manny, Luebke, Luhnow

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Some links from around the league on a day when Max Scherzer became the first pitcher since 1988 to induce 15 swinging strikeouts in one game…

  • We're just two weeks shy of the three-year anniversary of the trade that sent Nate McLouth from the Pirates to the Braves in exchange for Charlie Morton, Jeff Locke, and Gorkys Hernandez. Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review points out that with Locke being recalled from Triple-A, all four players involved in that trade — even McLouth himself — are on the Pirates' 25-man roster.
  • Daniel Brown of the San Jose Mercury News chronicles Manny Ramirez's journey to the Athletics, and ponders which Manny will show up in Oakland. Manny, who began a 10-game minor league assignment this weekend, has a chance to rewrite what was a disappointing ending to his career, writes Brown.
  • Nothing is certain, but Padres lefty Cory Luebke is strongly leaning toward undergoing Tommy John surgery, writes Dan Hayes of the North County Times. Luebke was transferred to the 60-day DL today, which opens a spot on the Pads' 40-man roster.
  • Astros GM Jeff Luhnow is personally scouting candidates for his team to select with the No. 1 overall pick in this year's MLB draft, writes MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. Luhnow isn't revealing which players he's scouting. He told reporters the Astros "aren't close" to knowing which player they'll draft, but are feeling more comfortable with the information they've gathered.

NL Central Notes: Rizzo, Pirates, Appel, Cardinals

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The Cardinals snapped a four-game losing streak with a 7-6 win over the Cubs this afternoon.  Yadier Molina was the hero for St. Louis, delivering a walkoff RBI single to cinch the victory.  Here's the latest from around the NL Central…

  • Theo Epstein was hesitant to make the trade that brought Anthony Rizzo to the Cubs since Epstein didn't want to give up Andrew Cashner, reports Bruce Levine of ESPN Chicago.  It was Cubs GM Jed Hoyer who "aggressively pushed" for the deal.  Levine covers a number of different Cubs (and White Sox) topics in this online chat with readers.
  • The Pirates aren't likely to make a trade to address their hitting problems, GM Neal Huntington told reporters (including Karen Price of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review).  “There are very, very few trades of substance made in May and there are few trades of substance made in June, so our solutions are going to have to come internally unless we’re willing to be less than intelligent and dramatically overpay. That’s just the way it is," Huntington said.  “We’re certainly looking externally, but the extra wild card has made it that much more of a challenge. There are fewer sellers out there, and we’re going to have to be creative.”
  • ESPN's Keith Law (Insider subscription required) has released his first 2012 mock draft and he projects the Astros to take Stanford right-hander Mark Appel with the first overall pick.  "The general feeling is that they'll take the college arm over the higher-upside, higher-risk outfielder, Byron Buxton," Law writes, though he notes that Houston's decision could also be determined by which player is willing to sign for the lowest price beneath the $7.2MM slot figure for the first pick.
  • Carlos Beltran and Rafael Furcal's hot starts have fueled the Cardinals' big offensive numbers, writes Scott Miller for CBS Sports.

2013 Contract Issues: Pittsburgh Pirates

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The Pirates are next in MLBTR’s 2013 Contract Issues series:

Eligible For Free Agency (5)

  • Erik Bedard - Bedard was starting to look like an appealing midseason trade candidate, but he left his most recent start with back spasms. There's no guarantee he'll finish this season in Pittsburgh, so it'd be premature to assume he'll play on next year's Pirates team.
  • Juan Cruz - Cruz owns a respectable 11K/6BB ratio and has allowed just one run in 14 innings. He'll be looking at a one-year deal this offseason and won't necessarily obtain a guaranteed roster spot, so the Pirates may try to re-sign him to a low-risk contract.
  • Jason Grilli - Grilli has 23 strikeouts and a 2.77 ERA after 13 innings. The Pirates may well want to retain him for another year as well.
  • Nate McLouth - McLouth has struggled in his return to Pittsburgh, but in theory he could be a solid extra outfielder.
  • Kevin Correia - The Pirates figure to be looking for starting pitching depth this offseason. Correia could be a fit, but it seems unlikely the Pirates would choose to make him a major commitment given that his fastball velocity and strikeout rate have dropped off so far in 2012. None of the players above figure to see qualifying offers from the Pirates when they hit free agency.

Contract Options (2)

  • Rod Barajas: $3.5MM club option with no buyout becomes a mutual option after a trade. Walk-off home runs aside, it's been a slow start at the plate for Barajas, who has a .472 OPS so far in 2012. It's still early enough for the veteran catcher to make that $3.5MM figure seem reasonable, however.
  • Pedro Alvarez: $700K club option. Exercising Alvarez's option figures to be a formality, especially if he continues to hit for power.

Arbitration Eligible (9)

The Pirates are up against a relatively large and expensive projected arbitration class. McDonald and Walker are on track for salaries north of $2MM as first-time eligible players and the rest are on track for raises. However, this group could be thinned out in the coming months. McGehee and Jones could be on the non-tender bubble by December's deadline and Hanrahan is a trade candidate who might be playing elsewhere a few months from now. If the Pirates keep everyone this arbitration class could get expensive quickly, since every player but Meek and Resop will be in line for at least $2MM in 2013.

2013 Payroll Obligation

The Pirates' payroll is up to $52MM this year, but it remains one of the lowest payrolls in MLB. They have committed $19.375MM to next year's team, so GM Neal Huntington should have payroll flexibility this coming offseason, assuming some arbitration eligible players don't return.

Pirates Acquire Jeff Larish From Red Sox

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The Pirates have acquired first baseman/third baseman Jeff Larish from the Red Sox in exchange for cash considerations, according to a team press release.  Larish will be assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis tomorrow.

Larish, 29, last appeared in the majors in 2010 with the Athletics.  The veteran hit .240/.330/.449 in 75 games for the Phillies' Triple-A affiliate last season and hooked on with Boston last week. 

The move marks the second trade of the day for the Red Sox as they acquired Scott Podsednik from the Phillies earlier this evening.

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