The Pirates released reliever Jose Contreras from their Triple-A club, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The Bucs signed Contreras to a minor league deal in February, on the mend from Tommy John surgery last June. He joined the big league club in May, spent some time on bereavement, hit the DL with back inflammation, and was released in mid-June when the team needed a 40-man roster spot. The Pirates then retained him on another minor league deal, but have now released him again. Contreras was quite good in Triple-A since signing again on June 17th — he allowed one earned run in 15 2/3 innings with 18 strikeouts and five walks. It seems possible Contreras requested his release to find another opportunity, but that's just speculation.
