Yikes. It sounds like Alderson and Jeff Locke will switch places. Alderson has been a huge disappointment since the Pirates traded Freddy Sanchez for him, and it sounds like he's still battling velocity and mechanical problems (which are probably related, come to think of it). Kyle Stark writes here that the goal is to get Alderson out of "survival" mode so that he can focus on the things he needs to do to improve, which makes sense. If Alderson is fixable at this point, this demotion is actually something like a rehab assignment - a chance for him to work out kinks, rather than trying to work them out against tough competition.