The Pirates’ September call-ups were officially announced today; in addition to Jared Hughes and Jeff Locke, the Bucs are also bringing up Pedro Alvarez, Aaron Thompson, and Danny Moskos, re-instated Evan Meek from the disabled list, and put Paul Maholm and Kevin Correia on the 60-day DL to make room, effectively ending their seasons (and in Maholm’s case, probably his Pirate career).
There’s nothing hugely surprising here. Alvarez didn’t play well after being returned to Triple-A, but it’s pretty likely that he’s the type of guy the team doesn’t want sitting around for any length of time. He’s starting tonight, but I’d be willing to bet that Josh Harrison and Chase d’Arnaud keep finding their way into the lineup down the stretch. Thompson and Moskos are just arms to add to the bullpen/rotation at this point, and the Pirates probably want to see how Meek fares after a year of rehabbing his shoulder problems. Really, Locke and Hughes were the two bigger callups and the ones most worth discussing. Beyond Alvarez, who’s always worth discussing, this seems like pretty typical September roster expansion fare.
