Pittsburgh placed Humberto Cota on the disabled list yesterday. Cota evidently suffered an oblique injury during spring training and then aggravated that injury recently to the point where throwing the ball back to the pitch became too painful. The Pirates have not set a timetable for his return, but given the nature of the injury, I expect him to miss four to six weeks. In Cota's absence, Craig Wilson will be Pittsburgh's only back-up catcher, so the club likely will want Cota back on the roster as soon as possible.

Wilson appears thoroughly entrenched in right field, as he has provided the Pirates with more production than any other player this season. Consequently, I do not expect his new responsibilities to substantially impact his playing time or positioning. Due to several postponed games, Pittsburgh is lagging behind most teams in games played. However, the Pirates do not have a double header scheduled until July 2nd. Abraham Nunez will serve as the team's emergency catcher, and Rob Mackowiak has some experience behind the plate. Nevertheless, if Jason Kendall incurs an injury that leaves him day-to-day before Cota returns, I expect Pittsburgh to call up a temporary replacement from AAA.