Breaking Down a Slew of Roster Moves

First off congratulations to Josh Harrison. Harrison deserved the call and has worked hard to prove a lot of people wrong. Is he the slickest fielder? No. Was Freddy Sanchez when he was in the minors? No. The concerns about Harrison's glove are a bit overblown, but the fact of the matter is that he has hit at every level. In fact in four minor league seasons he has never had a BA under .300, and while the OPS is a bit low, his career best .841 at AAA this season is just fine.

You can find some of our Josh Harrison coverage here, here, and here. The second link includes some video of Josh Harrison shot by Brad.

Bringing up Harrison first was important though. First off the Pirates had one open spot on the 40 man roster anyway, this was then filled by Harrison. Now to put a guy on the 60 day DL is the same as to remove them from the 40 man roster, exactly what happened with Olsen. That said to put someone on the 60 Day DL you have to have a full 40 man roster.

This could mean that one of the injuries is worse than expected and someone is going on the 60 Day DL. The Pirates currently have Ohlendorf, Pearce, and Beimel on the DL with Ryan Doumit making his annual DL trip in the very near future.

Beimel hasn't been right all season so my money would be on him since an elbow injury can be very serious for a pitcher.

Ohlendorf has already missed 50 games this season, but it seems like they have never thought the injury was too severe or else they would have made the move already.

Pearce has tightness in his calm, no word on any tear or anything like that so one would assume that he would be placed on the 15 Day DL, replaced by Harrison.

Supposedly Ryan Doumit only sprained his ankle, but who knows. If there is some sort of break he will make the trip I guess.

Apparently Dusty Brown will be getting the call later today. With Jaramillo currently playing through a nagging injury the Pirates will go with the better stick. Brown has actually outplayed Jaramillo this season, both at and behind the plate. Brown's line of .263/.348/.535 is substantially better than Jaramillo's .260/.345/.351. Behind the dish Brown's R/G of 7.15 and Fld% of .989 are both better than Jaramillo's 6.91 and .987. Brown has caught 42% of would be basestealers while Jaramillo has gunned down 38%.

The problem with Brown is that he, unlike Jaramillo has to be added to the 40 man roster, that's where the aforementioned 60 Day DL idea comes from.

Either way a move will be announced later today.