1999 #1 draft pick Bobby Bradley was released by the Pirates to make room on the 40-man roster for Zach Duke, who joins the rotation. I don't exactly understand this in terms of roster management - why not just put Ian Snell, who joined the Bucs earlier this week, in the rotation and recall Mike Johnston to help out in the pen? But I'm not concerned about losing Bradley. His injury history is lengthy and well-documented. Last year was a relative success for him: he pitched decently at Class AA Altoona, but even then, his velocity was down. This year, he walked a ridiculous 30 batters in 12 1/3 innings at Class AAA Indianapolis before being shut down. Oh, yeah - and he would have been out of options after this year. His career is a mess right now. Perhaps he can catch on with another team, but that seems doubtful, and it probably couldn't have happened with the Pirates, in any case.
(By the way, props to Greg Schuler, who's doing a better job posting this information in a timely way than I am - he probably lives on the East Coast and has a 9-to-5 job, which would mean he wakes up about six hours earlier than I do.)