The Pirates designated righty Joe Martinez for assignment to open a spot for Kevin Correia, tweets MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch. She adds that they also announced non-roster spring training invites for Tyler Yates, Jeff Clement, Rudy Owens, and Justin Wilson.
Martinez, 28 in February, was acquired by the Pirates from the Giants along with John Bowker in the trade deadline deal for Javier Lopez. He posted a 3.94 ERA, 6.8 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, and 1.0 HR/9 in 109 2/3 Triple-A innings this year. Baseball America ranked him 30th among Giants prospects heading into the '09 season. They called him "a groundball machine" with a "sinking 86-88 mph fastball, a true curveball and a plus changeup consistently down in the strike zone."
