Trader Jim Hendry found a pair of left-handed pitchers before the non-waiver trade deadline. Since his quota of trades with Baltimore was filled, Hendry called upon another favorite partner, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Kevin Hart, Jose Ascanio and Josh Harrison were sent to the Pirates for John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny.

Grabow has already showed his stuff in relief, and, on Tuesday night, Gorzelanny got his chance as a starter. Gorzelanny last pitched in the majors in June, but that was out of the bullpen. Pittsburgh stashed Gorzelanny in Triple-A most of the Summer, where he was impressive working in the Indianapolis rotation.

The Question Mark

The anticipation of Gorzelanny’s debut included questions about his velocity. After checking out his PITCHf/x right after the trade, I found his fastball was touching 95 out of the bullpen. That’s not the same as doing that as a starter, but it was a good sign.

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