By Chuck Finder | 4:11 p.m. Wednesday
BRADENTON, Fla. -- And the cuts kept coming, as Pirates management following the game this afternoon cut three more players from their major-league camp, including optioning third baseman Neil Walker of Pine-Richland High to Class AAA Indianapolis for what was described a technicality in baseball's contractual rules.
General Manager Neal Huntington said Walker, 23, the Pirates' first-round selection in 2004, had to leave camp before Saturday lest an spring-training injury thereafter could've kept him on the major-league disabled list and started Walker's major-league service clock ticking.
"This is the reality of the rules we operate in," Huntington said. "This is the ugly business side."
Walker was optioned to Indianapolis with reliever Dave Davidson, who pitched two of his three times and 2/3 of an inning total since returning from the Canadian team in the World Baseball Classic, and Brian Slocum, a non-roster invitee who as a result was reassigned to Pirate City's minor-league camp.
Walker batted .231 in camp and was tied for second on the team with seven walks. Huntington raved about Walker's defense in the third year of his transition from catcher: "Without question, he's a major-league-ready third baseman defensively." Offensively, though, Indianapolis' 2008 MVP needs refinement, to the thinking of Pirates management.
"I totally understand it," Walker said. "I knew it was probably coming, I didn't quite know when. I didn't realize the date was so close. . . . They made it clear when the time would come, they would not hesitate to call me up. I showed I'm extremely close."
The roster now is at 40, after the busy day of paring five. And, for the record, Ian Snell showed up in the clubhouse after the game.
Posted
Mar 18 2009, 04:11 PM
by
Dejan Kovacevic