Pittsburgh Pirates Notes: Official Minor League Signing, New Numbers

The Pittsburgh Pirates had some little bits of worthy news come out this week. The team handed out some new numbers and officially signed a player.

Spring Training is less than a month away, which is hard to believe for some Pittsburgh Pirates fans. As Spring Training gets closer the rumors and roster transactions start to slow down. There are still some notable Free Agents and of course, there can always be a trade, but teams mostly start to focus on the start of the year.

This is the time when teams start to put out official things for the upcoming season. This week the Pittsburgh Pirates announced some changes to players' numbers, along with numbers for the new players, and any other player added to the 40-man roster this offseason.

Austin did a great job of getting this information up on Twitter. This can be found on the team's 40-man roster as well, but no one had really noticed until then. Also, do not read to much into Endy Rodriguez receiving an official number, Oneil Cruz did when he was added to the 40-man roster.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have also officially signed veteran right-handed pitcher Tyler Chatwood:

This deal was actually reported back in December. I think many of us forgot about this being reported, so it is interesting to see them complete the deal weeks later. Either way, Chatwood is on a Minor League deal which will allow him to most likely be the first promoted whe needed at the beginning of the season.

Unfortuantely, the Pittsburgh Pirates will most likely keep Luis Ortiz down to start the year. Even if an injury were to happen, the Bucs will keep Ortiz down to protect him from Super-2 Status. Chatwood, a groundball pitcher, is most well known for his success in Colorado. The veteran looks. to get back on track with the Buccos.