The Pirates have recalled Ian Snell from AAA Indianapolis.
I'm not exactly sure why they're doing this now. Mike Gonzalez went on the DL recently, leaving the Pirates with only one lefty (John Grabow) in the pen. When the Bucs put Gonzalez on the DL last week, they called up Mike Johnston, a lefty with good stuff who put up good numbers (albeit with some control issues) in Indianapolis. That move seemed to make sense, even after Johnston got shelled in his first appearance - it wasn't terribly creative, but then again it didn't need to be.
Snell has much more upside than Johnston, and he didn't have anything left to prove in AAA, so I'm not complaining here. But he's a righty, and I would think that the Pirates would want Johnston or even fellow lefty Zach Duke, since Lloyd McClendon is a platoon-split fetishist and the likely ability level (in the near term) among the three pitchers doesn't seem to outweigh the convenience of having a second lefty available.
I hope the Pirates will still look to trade a starter at the deadline, and Snell will end up getting the role in the rotation that he deserves.