Pirates send 7 players to minors; Matt Joyce makes team

The Pirates have announced that they've optioned Rob Scahill, Trey Haley and Jake Goebbert to Indianapolis, and reassigned outfielders Danny Ortiz and Antoan Richardson and pitchers Curtis Partch and Robert Zarate to minor-league camp.

None of those cuts are all that surprising. The most noteworthy is Scahill, who's on the 40-man roster and looked to have a shot at a bullpen job.

In addition, there are a few more details about how the Pirates' 25-man roster will look. Matt Joyce has made the team, Neal Huntington says, and Jeff Locke is in the rotation. That leaves one more rotation spot for either Ryan Vogelsong or Juan Nicasio. Also, it looks very likely that Jared Hughes, who is dealing with a lat issue, will begin the season on the DL.

Locke being in the rotation, plus Scahill going to the minors and Hughes starting the season on the DL, would seem to make it pretty likely that Cory Luebke will be on the team, but Huntington says the Bucs haven't made a decision on that yet and that Luebke's opt-out is not today, as had been previously reported. Kyle Lobstein is still in camp and could potentially still offer an alternative to Luebke as the second lefty in the bullpen.