Update: Pirates set 40-man roster

Update 8:13 p.m.: I just spoke to Neal Huntington. Here are his comments on the events of tonight.

On designating Ike Davis for assignment: “It was going to be very difficult for us to retain Pedro, Ike and Gaby, given where their dollars are all escalating towards and given the challenges that were in place at various points last year. … As we sit here right now, we’ve essentially committed to Pedro over Ike Davis.“

On adding Jameson Taillon, who is still coming back from Tommy John surgery, to the 40-man roster: ”Given that he’s coming off the Tommy John, he becomes the ideal guy to claim and stash on the disabled list. So he actually becomes one of the easiest claims in the game if we don’t protect him.“

Taillon is in the Dominican Republic as part of the Pirates’ Dominican instructional league. He had gone before and asked to go again. 

On claiming Pedro Florimon: ”Quality defensive player that can help a team with some versatility as a pinch-runner as well. Has struggled at times with the bat. Our guys like the way he plays defense.“

On leaving Andy Oliver off, given his improvement as a reliever and the loss of Justin Wilson: ”We had a strong number of guys beyond the four that we added today that we gave a lot of consideration to. Andy was certainly one of them that we talked about. We will walk into the Rule 5 draft with some of the angst as to who we may lose and how many we may lose.“

On Radhames Liz: ”We are certainly one of the clubs that are interested in him and continue to work through the process.“

**********

Original post:

The Pirates added five players to their 40-man roster Thursday, including top pitching prospect Jameson Taillon, in a series of roster moves that also included designating Ike Davis for assignment.

Taillon, right-hander Nick Kingham, catcher Elias Diaz and outfielder Willy Garcia all received spots on the 40-man roster, which is now full. The Pirates also added shortstop Pedro Florimon, whom they claimed off waivers earlier Thursday evening. The moves protected the players from the Rule 5 draft, which takes place at the end of the Winter Meetings in December.

They designated Davis and minor league catcher Ramon Cabrera for assignment and sent third baseman Brent Morel outright to Class AAA Indianapolis.

The Pirates had to protect Taillon, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2010 draft. Taillon had Tommy John ligament replacement surgery in April.

Davis joined the Pirates in a trade with the New York Mets in April. He served as the left-handed portion of the first-base platoon along with Gaby Sanchez. Though Davis had a .343 on-base percentage in Pittsburgh, he hit .235 and had only 10 home runs. He was eligible for arbitration, made $3.5 million last season and was a candidate to be non-tendered at the Dec. 2 deadline. The Pirates are still deciding which corner of the infield to play Pedro Alvarez, and they were not going to keep two arbitration-eligible, left-handed first baseman if they decided on Alvarez at first and Josh Harrison at third.

Diaz hit .312 with a .366 on-base percentage between Class AA Altoona and Class AAA Indianapolis this season. Kingham had a 3.34 ERA in 26 starts between those same levels.

Garcia hit at least 16 home runs for the third consecutive season, but continued to be a low on-base player who strikes out a lot. He hit .271 at Altoona this year.

The Pirates did not protect lefty reliever Andy Oliver, first baseman Stetson Allie or outfielder Mel Rojas Jr.