Pirates announce Radhames Liz signing, DFA Josh Lindblom

The Pirates have officially announced the signing of Radhames Liz, and they've designated Josh Lindblom for assignment. Significantly, the Pirates' announcement says it's a one-year deal, not the two-year deal that was initially reported. It is, however, a big-league deal, since the Bucs have added Liz to their 40-man roster. Whether the Pirates plan to use Liz as a starter or reliever is unclear. You can read more about Liz here and here.

The Bucs just claimed Lindblom from the Athletics four days ago, and it isn't as if they didn't know they would need a roster spot for Liz, so unless they were really surprised that Francisco Liriano signed, it seems like they claimed Lindblom just to try to sneak him through waivers. The Bucs haven't quite reached "Early 2013 Blue Jays" levels of waiver madness yet, but they're getting close. Anyway, the Pirates' reasons for claiming Lindblom in the first place were a little mysterious, so it's no surprise that they're designating him for assignment. The only surprise is the speed with which they did it.