Pirates claim RHP Angel Sanchez

CORRECTION:  The Pirates claimed RHP Angel Sanchez off waivers from the White Sox.

This particular Sanchez hasn't been pitching all that long, apparently.  He was involved in the Ricky Nolasco trade and, this year, has been getting waived all around MLB.  He throws 92-95 and supposedly has a good cutter, but so far hasn't shown any feel for pitching.  His career MiL numbers are pretty bad.  He just reached AA this year and has struggled there, so he's obviously not a candidate to see PNC any time soon.

I know, given the timing of this, that the hysterics are going to go off the charts, but it'd be a good idea to remember a few things:

-- The Pirates have a lot of wasted space on the 40-man, so there's no downside here.

-- Just because the trade deadline is today doesn't mean teams ignore everything else.  If the opportunity to grab a guy the team's scouts liked came up on deadline day, would you really want Neal Huntington to say, "I'm too busy, go away?"  Seriously?

-- Sanchez' numbers look bad, but so did those of a bunch of other pitchers the Pirates have picked up.  They turned Kris Johnson and Stolmy Pimentel around, among others.  Fans are willing to credit the team's pitching gurus after they have success with a pitcher, but somebody has to give them the struggling pitchers to work with in the first place.