The Pirates have demoted pitching prospect Tim Alderson from Class AA Altoona to Class A+ Bradenton. Alderson had an excellent reputation before he was acquired from the Giants for Freddy Sanchez last year, but he has struggled since the trade - he's posting a 5.30 ERA this year. By all reports, his velocity is down significantly, and he's now throwing his fastball at around 86-88 MPH, not as fast as he needs it to be if he's going to get advanced hitters out. He'll try to work out the kinks at Bradenton, and hopefully he can get his fastball back to 90-92 MPH. He's still extremely young, but the Sanchez trade looks worse by the day.
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