I was checking the MLB.com transactions page tonight, and noticed that Carlos Paulino was assigned to the Pittsburgh Pirates, which is the wording used when a player receives a non-roster invite to Spring Training. Paulino is a catcher who has never caught above high-A, but has some strong defense highlighted by a cannon for an arm. With all of the pitchers in Spring Training, teams usually need a lot of catchers. Paulino is probably there for that reason.
I also checked the Pirates site and saw that Ivan De Jesus was listed as a non-roster invitee. I haven’t seen his name mentioned before as an NRI. De Jesus is a middle infielder who was acquired as part of the Joel Hanrahan trade with Boston. The Red Sox designated him for assignment in November, then outrighted him to Triple-A. De Jesus can play shortstop and second base, and should be in competition for the backup middle infield job in Spring Training.
Both players have been added to the Spring Training tracker.
