Pirates claim Chad Beck, Ali Solis

The Pirates have claimed pitcher Chad Beck from the Blue Jays and catcher Ali Solis from the Padres. To make room for them on the 40-man roster, the Pirates have designated first baseman Jeff Clement and catcher Eric Fryer for assignment.

Beck and Solis look like role players, if that, but it's unlikely Clement or Fryer had much of a future with the Bucs, so the Pirates are just using their spots to take flyers on players who might be interesting. Beck, who will soon be 28, pitched as a reliever last year for the Blue Jays and for Class AAA Las Vegas, mostly with poor results. (He had a pretty-looking ERA in Las Vegas, but didn't have a good strikeout rate to back it up.) Solis, who just turned 25, hit reasonably well for Class AA San Antonio.

In any case, it wouldn't be a shock if these two players were off the roster by Spring Training. The Bucs claimed a pitcher and catcher from these two teams in one fell swoop at a similar point last year (pitcher Jeremy Hefner, from San Diego, and catcher Brian Jeroloman, from Toronto), but neither of them ended up playing a game for the Pirates.