A year ago, Tom Gorzelanny seemed like one of the few positive things the Pittsburgh Pirates had going for them. Wednesday, after a full year of struggles and seemingly little improvement in Spring Training, the Pirates demoted him to Triple-A. With this move, it seems likely that Jeff Karstens or Virgil Vazquez will fill the fifth starter slot, so it's a pretty strong statement by Pirate management that they don't think Gorzelanny is capable of pitching at the big-league level right now. This move is all kinds of interesting for a number of reasons. It's pretty early in camp to see such a prominent player get cut, which makes me wonder if Pirates' GM Neal Huntington is trying to send a message to Gorzelanny. He came to camp 15 pounds lighter this spring, but Huntington hasn't shied away from demoting players to make statements in the past, and the timing here is pretty curious.
