JUAN CRUZ RUMORS & GOSSIP

God, we hope that Juan Cruz isn’t just pulling a Raul Mondesi because the Pirates placed Cruz on the restricted list so he could head back to the Dominican Republic to take care of some “personal matters.” Apparently Clint Hurdle thinks Cruz should be back with the Bucs by Friday when they’ll be in Milwaukee. Hopefully that’s how this ends because the...

The Pittsburgh Pirates placed right-handed reliever Juan Cruz on the restricted list to allow him to return home to the Dominican Republic to attend to personal business. To replace Cruz, the Pirates called up left-hander Doug Slaten from Triple-A Indianapolis. The veteran Cruz was 1-1 with a 1.45 ERA in 20 outings. Slaten was 2-0 with a 0.36 ERA and eight saves in 20 games for Indianapolis.

The Pirates have won three games in a row after a big time win over the Cubs yesterday. [Recap] Juan Cruz has been put on the restricted list as he has to head back to the Dominican for a personal issue. The Pirates have placed Doug Slaten on the 40-man roster and called him up to Pittsburgh to take Cruz's place. The lefty has given up just one run all season in AAA. He'...

Pittsburgh Pirates: Surprisingly, Juan Cruz toed the rubber in the ninth to earn the save for the Pirates Tuesday night. Initially there was no word as to the why. Eventually, we heard that Joel Hanrahan tweaked his hamstring on the last pitch of his outing against the Giants on Sunday. Hanrahan says he’s not going to be able to go until Friday or Saturday, at which point he could...

Going into today, there were 28 players who were still with the Pirates and one of those players, Juan Cruz, was not on the 40-man roster. Just about everything played out the way we all though, but there were some surprises on the moves made. A.J. Burnett and Charlie Morton were both placed on the 15-day disabled list, cutting the club to 26. Then, to make room for Cruz on both...

Yesterday the Pittsburgh Pirates announced that they had signed right handed reliever Juan Cruz to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training. Cruz was considered one of the better set-up men in the game just a few years ago, and is coming off a pretty good year pitching out of Tampa Bay’s bullpen, one year removed from a shoulder injury. Following the move, I raised...

The Pirates signed right-hander Juan Cruz to a minor league contract and offered him an invitation to spring training. Cruz, 33, pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2011. He went 5-0 with a 3.88 ERA and 1.32 WHIP, pitching 482/3 innings in 56 relief appearances.

The Bucs inked reliever Juan Cruz to a minor league deal (with an invite to Spring Training) on Wednesday. Cruz is a 33-year old righty with 11 big-league seasons under his belt. His career ERA is 4.13, and last year with Tampa Bay he went 5-0 with a 3.88 ERA. He tends to put up good strikeout numbers (9.1 K/9 for his career) while walking a few too many (4.8 BB/9). This actually...

The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed right-handed reliever Juan Cruz to a minor league contract and will invite him to spring training. The 33-year-old Cruz went 5-0 with a 3.88 ERA in 56 relief appearances with Tampa Bay last season. He's previously pitched for the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks and the Kansas City Royals. Cruz is 37-35...

The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed right-handed reliever Juan Cruz to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training, according to a team press release. With a career 4.13 ERA in 619.1 innings, the 33-year-old has been decent in the majors during his career. His 9.1 K/9 ratio is impressive Last season, Cruz recorded a 3.88 ERA and 8.5 K/9 ratio in 48.2 innings. From Tim Williams...