The Pittsburgh Pirates have officially placed third baseman Brandon Inge and pitchers Jeff Karstens, Francisco Liriano and Charlie Morton on the 15-day disabled list. With these moves the 25 man rosters is officially set for Opening Day tomorrow. The Karstens move is retroactive to March 22nd, while Inge is retroactive to March 26th. The Pirates are hopeful that Liriano and Morton will be back around the 1st of June.
Inge, Morton, Liriano and Karstens to DL
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.