In advance of the beginning of their series against the Cincinnati Reds, the Pirates have placed reliever Juan Cruz on the restricted list (he’s apparently traveling to the Dominican Republic to take care of some personal issues) and replaced him with lefty Doug Slaten.

Slaten will take Nate McLouth’s place on the roster; McLouth was designated for assignment late last week. Slaten had an out clause in his contract that would have allowed him to leave June 1, so this move keeps him in the organization for now. Slaten had allowed just one run in 25.1 innings for Class AAA Indianapolis, although his strikeout rate (with just 15 strikeouts in the same period) suggested he wasn’t nearly as impressive as his 0.36 ERA indicated.

From the same article, Neal Huntington says he may consider promoting infielder Jordy Mercer from Indianapolis. That would be interesting, since Mercer is the organization’s most realistic long-term replacement for Clint Barmes at shortstop.

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