Some Pittsburgh Pirates fans will be happy to hear that Bryan Bullington has been called up by the team as they sent Marino Salas down to Triple-A.

Bullington had started the season off slow, but has picked things up lately as he has won his last three of four starts while only allowing two runs in his last thirteen innings of action.  Expect Bullington to pitch long relief out of the bullpen for now but ultimately end up in the starting rotation.

Salas who has struggled by giving up six runs in his last six innings of action was sent down.  Salas was sporting a 7.00 ERA and just wasn’t getting the job done.

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John Van Benschoten has been sent down to Triple-A Indianapolis by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Van Benschoten has struggled up at the major league level and will now get some more work down in the minor leagues.

To take his spot on the roster, the Pirates called up Marino Salas.  Salas is a 27 year old career minor leaguer who will make making his major league debut.  Salas had a 0.77 era in 22 1/3 innings at Triple-A.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have released veteran pitcher Matt Morris.  The Pirates have decided to go in the young pitching rotation direction and see how well that works out.  And to be honest, I don’t think that is a bad decision.

Morris struggled all year long for the Pirates.  A short season with a 0-4 record and a high 9.67 ERA, Morris was pretty much asking to be released.  The decision to cut him will cost the Pirates more than $10 million, besides what they already have paid him this season. Morris is making $10,037,283, or about one-fifth of the Pirates’ payroll, and has a $1 million buyout for 2009.

What do you think Pirates fans? Lets our Pirates Blog know what you are thinking about Matt Morris being released.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates front office and management sure have been busy the past few days has they have made quite a few roster changes.  Releasing players, signing players, and buying out contracts, the Pirates have been doing it all in the last 24-48 hours.

Juan Perez and Jaret Wright have been released by the Pirates.

Josh Wilson was designated for assignment while Jorge Valendia was sent to minor league camp.

Pirates purchased the contract of infielder Doug Mientkiewicz from Triple-A Indianapolis.

Byung-Hyun Kim’s contract was bought out for $300,000.

The Pirates and Braves have worked out a trade that will send Todd Redmond to the Braves in exchange for Tyler Yates.

The Pittsburgh Pirates continue to make roster changes to their spring training roster and send players down as the big league club gets ready for opening day.

The Pirates optioned Kevin Thompson to Triple-A Indianapoli and reassigned Elmer Dessens and Casey Fossum to the teams minor league camp.

Jonah Bayliss was designated for assignment.

The Pirates also purchased the contract of Luis Rivas from Triple-A Indianapolis.

Byung-Hyun Kim has finally received the major league contract that he was hoping to sign as the Pittsburgh Pirates have inked him to a one year deal.  It is unclear how much Kim will be paid by the Pirates at this time.

Kim was only being offered minor league contracts until the Pirates called.  It didn’t have to take him longer then five seconds to tell the Pirates that he would accept their offer.  Anything to stay out of the minor leagues lol!

Kim will be pitching out of the Pirates bullpen, where they can get all the help they can get.  But Kim really isn’t the answer here if you ask me.

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Freddy Sanchez and the Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed on a new two year contract with club option for a third year.  The deal is expected to pay Sanchez as much as $19 million if he plays all three years with the Pirates.

Sounds like a lot of money for a infielder with no pop to me.  Unless he can move up that .300 batting average to the .320 .or .330 range and keep his RBI’s up over 80 each year I don’t think this is a good move for the Pirates.  Just a little to much money to invest in the second basemen in my opinion.

What do you think Pirates fans?

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed Xavier Nady and John Grabow to one year contracts.  Nady will receive $3.3 million in 2008 while Grabow will earn $1.1 million.

Nady is very well worth the month, but is Grabow?  Time will tell I suppose.  But as a Pirates fan, you would hope they would just shell out five million a year and sign Nady long term.  Even a three or four year deal would do.

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Adam LaRoche just got a hefty pay raise from the Pittsburgh Pirates.  LaRoche who earned a little over $3 million last year, just agreed on a new one year contract with the Pirates for $5 million.  Yes you read that right, $5 million!

I think that is about 2 million more then he is worth to be honest.  LaRoche definaly hasn’t lived up to all the hype when he came over to the Pirates.

Do you all agree with me?  Bad move my the management signing LaRoche for $5 million?