Dejan Kovacevic reveals some roster details. Yesterday I mentioned the possibility that the Pirates might go with a short bullpen until the return of Joel Hanrahan, but Kovacevic reports that in addition to Octavio Dotel, Brendan Donnelly, Evan Meek, Javier Lopez and D.J. Carrasco, the Pirates could also take Vinnie Chulk and Jack Taschner north. That would give the Bucs an extremely old bullpen.
I'd be cool with adding Chulk, who I've meekly rooted for ever since he became a minor league free agent. There's really no chance he'll be anything special, but his performance record is fine, and I don't see any obvious reason he can't be a reliable low-leverage guy. Taschner doesn't do much for me, but he is left-handed. While I'm skeptical of guys who talk about changing their mechanics over the winter--that's really only a step above "I'm in the best shape of my life" when it comes to reasons to get excited--I'm at least open to the possibility that moving to a three-quarter arm angle will help him against southpaws, who punished him last year and who Taschner has never had much of an advantage against. And if that turns out not to be the case, the Pirates can part ways with him after a few weeks, and that will be that.
Kovacevic also reports that the Pirates will probably dump Ramon Vazquez if they don't get any trade offers by the end of camp. I assume no one here will have any objections?