The Pittsburgh Pirates have made several roster moves this week, particularly with their bullpen, which has been off to a not-so-perfect start. First, they DFA’d righty Ryan Harbin to make room for righty Chris Devenski. The Bucs had to make room for Devenski on the 26 and the 40-man, so it was Harbin who took the red ticket.
Harbin has been injured and wasn’t expected back until late May at the earliest, and that sadly meant bye-bye, and unfortunate reality of sports injuries for non-stars.
Cam Sanders was also brought up a few days ago, replacing Braxton Ashcraft who is out on family bereavement. Again, they exchanged a righty for a righty. But they also called up lefty Hunter Barco, while optioning righty Wilber Dotel this week.
They then sent down Barco when Devenski got called up. Barco allowed 5 runs in 4.2 innings versus the St. Louis Cardinals and now has an ERA of 7.71 in just five appearances. Devenski, who is a 10-year veteran, gave up two hits and a run in last night’s loss to the Cards. Not a good start for Devenski, as the Bucs look to tighten up a bullpen that currently has more blown saves than actual saves.
Don’t expect too much roster action at the top of the pen, where Dennis Santana, Gregory Soto, Isaac Mattson and Yohan Ramirez have gotten the bulk of the work, but the Bucs need some help in the long and middle relief category and on the edges of the bullpen, where we’re likely to see guys bouncing in and out as the Bucs look for a better combination to help solidify what has been, to this point, a team weakness on the season.
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