Pirates designate Cory Luebke, promote 3 players

The Pirates have apparently seen enough of Cory Luebke, designating him as part of a series of moves they announced today. They also placed Juan Nicasio on the restricted list due to what Clint Hurdle says is personal reasons and optioned Rob Scahill to Indianapolis. Replacing that trio on the active roster will be Jason Rogers and Curtis Partch, along with a new face, that of hard-throwing reliever Jorge Rondon. Whatever's going on with Nicasio, he will likely miss his start on Tuesday, with Wilfredo Boscan likely being promoted to replace him at that time.

It's no surprise, obviously, that the Pirates designated Luebke, who did nothing to justify positive reports on him coming out of Spring Training. Yesterday's outing against the Cubs, in which he failed to record an out, was probably the straw that broke the camel's back. As I noted yesterday, something needed to be done about the Bucs' pitching staff, and it's good to see the Pirates did ... well, something.

The question is what exactly the Bucs will be able to get from their new players. Rogers gives them a decent bench bat. Partch, based on his stuff and his fine pitching for Indianapolis this season (1.64 ERA, 3.3 BB/9 and a strong 10.1 K/9) is a reasonable candidate for his second promotion of the season. Rondon might be a bit more questionable -- he had a 1.91 ERA at Indy, but with 4.1 BB/9 and just 6.5 K/9. As I noted when I saw him two weeks ago, he throws in the high 90s. There isn't much indication, though, that he can turn that kind of velocity into good performances. On the plus side, he hasn't made an appearance since Wednesday and is capable of pitching multiple innings.