As the Pirates continue to trim their roster with Opening Day now just five days away, they made a round of cuts today. The Pirates have optioned 1B/OF Jake Goebbert and right-handed relievers Rob Scahill and Trey Haley to AAA Indianapolis. The Pirates also reassigned outfielders Danny Ortiz and Antoan Richardson and reliever Chris Partch to Minor League camp. If a player is to be DFA’d look for it to be Goebbert now that he has been optioned to AAA.
Haley and Scahill were two players that seemed to have a real possibility at making the Opening Day roster since Jared Hughes will begin the season on the disabled list. Now that they have both been optioned to AAA, it appears
that both Kyle Lobstein and Cory Luebke will make the roster out of spring. This will give the Bucs 3 lefty arms in the bullpen, although one in Watson will be limited as the setup guy.
The Pirates still have a few questions remaining about the roster. Such as you will fill out the back of the rotation, will Matt Joyce make the team, and who will claim the final two bench spots. Stay tuned here at Rum Bunter for all the Pirate roster news that breaks in the coming days.
UPDATE: Matt Joyce did indeed make the club confirmed by himself and Neal Huntington.