FanPost

Pirates Demote Brad Lincoln, DFA Brendan Donnelly

I didn't see this coming. Brad Lincoln has been a big disappointment, going 1-4 with a 6.57 ERA through his first nine starts. On Tuesday, he didn't get out of the third inning. Today he pitched into the seventh, but a five-run third was his undoing. The big issue seems to be his flat fastball and lack of Ks, only 21 in 50.2 innings.

Brendan Donnelly has not been good. A whip of 1.66 and 25 walks in 30.2 innings tells you most of what you need to know. At 39 this may be the end of the road.

The Pirates don't have anyone at Indianapolis who jumps out as an obvious candidate to be promoted to fill the two open spots. Reliever D.J. Carrasco has apparently been lobbying to start. He did start 20 games for Kansas City in 2005, but had a low K rate that season. He has been very effective in two long relief appearances since the break, so maybe the Pirates give him a chance. The most likely recall candidate is Daniel McCutchen, with Dana Eveland being another. Steven Jackson, Chris Jakubauskas and Daniel Moskos are candidates to be called up and put in the pen.

Hayden Penn's move to Japan wasn't very well-timed, it now appears.

The corresponding moves will be announced Tuesday.

UPDATE: Wilfredo Ledezma has been dominating AAA this year with 50Ks in 38.1 innings and a whip of 1.02. He's 29 and hasn't had much major league success obviously, so I'm not sure how the PIrates view him. Whoever it is, is going to be on a plane tomorrow, so I expect we will find out then.

UPDATE by Charlie: Rob Biertempfel tweets that he expects the Pirates will call up Ledezma and Justin Thomas, then send one of them down and call up Dan McCutchen when the Bucs need another starter.

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