The Pirates have demoted reliever Chris Leroux to Altoona after he got off to a miserable start at Indianapolis, striking out 12 batters and walking 10 in 13 innings of work. Leroux recently turned 27 and hasn't yet had a successful stint at Class AAA, let alone the big leagues. He is still, however, on the Pirates' 40-man roster. If there were ever a time to try to sneak him through waivers, this would be it. He was in competition for a major-league bullpen job just over a month ago; now he's two rungs down.