Shuffling Arms Around

After the Pirates were swept by the Padres the team made some moves with their pitching staff to change things up a bit. The team designated Brendan Donnelly for assignment and optioned Brad Lincoln back to AAA. Neither move should be seen as a surprise, as both pitchers had struggled and something needed to be done.

Lincoln seemed to take it in stride, as he said after the game:

"Just clear my head," Lincoln said. "For me, it's probably the best move."

Lincoln had lost some velocity on his pitches and Neal Huntington seems to believe that it is do to changed mechanics more than anything. So he'll head out to AAA to work it out.

As for Donnelly, he took it a different way saying this to the PG upon his release:

"This one I didn't see coming at all. ... They're moving forward and that's fine. I don't know what their definition of 'moving forward' is, but we'll see."

I like the cheap shot at the team and 'moving forward'. Well Brendan, I don't know what made you think that you would be a part of any future with the Pirates to begin with. It is not as though you signed a multi-year deal or you are 24 or something.

As for it being a surprise, apparently he is the only one who has not notice his ERA being over 5.00 for the better part of the season.

If it is a 'money' move as the quotes from Donnelly make it seem to be then I am grateful. He was being paid too much to do what he was 'doing' anyway recently. For the price to go up on that 'performance' it would have been a horrible money deal.

As for who will replace them, well I would not be shocked to Wil Ledezma get a shot from AAA. He has pitched well all season and deserves a shot with the parent club.

The starter is more murky, as the options are not that great, but if I had to bet, I'd go with Daniel McCutchen.

We won't know until Tuesday in Denver who it is, but for the time being these are two moves that probably needed to happen. Donnelly was not getting things done and clearly something was lost when Lincoln boarded the plane in Indianapolis bound for Washington.