To make room for Xavier Paul on the 25-man roster, the Pittsburgh Pirates will cut John Bowker today. Since Bowker is out of options, the Pirates will have to designate him for assignment, giving them ten days to trade, waive, or release the left handed hitting outfielder.
Bowker was acquired by the Pirates at the trade deadline in 2010, along with Joe Martinez, in exchange for Javier Lopez. The Pirates designated Martinez for assignment earlier this year, and he was claimed by the Cleveland Indians, where he is struggling for their AAA team.
I’d expect a trade or a waiver claim with Bowker, as I’m sure teams would want to take a flier on a left handed hitter with power potential. So far that hasn’t worked out for him in the majors, and the switch to Xavier Paul is more of a lateral move, since they both have had similar production to date (although Paul could be better defensively).
The one big thing this move does is opens a spot on the 40-man roster. The 25-man roster and the 40-man roster pages are both updated.