Joel Hanrahan to begin season on disabled list

Traded to Pittsburgh along with Lastings Milledge in late June, Joel Hanrahan tossed 31.1 innings with a 1.71 ERA down the stretch and was slated to be the Pirates’ primary setup man this year. Unfortunately the team announced today that he’s expected to begin the season on the disabled list with a strained elbow. He’s been shut down and is scheduled to be examined next week by Dr. James Andrews, which is often a precursor for even worse news. Hanrahan revealed that his second-half success with the Pirates came despite pitching through frequent elbow discomfort, which apparently resumed last month during a mini-camp mound session. Even with his strong second half the 28-year-old Hanrahan has a 4.32 ERA and 167/78 K/BB ratio in 150 career innings as a reliever, which is certainly nothing special. However, the Pirates’ lack of quality late-inning options figured to force him into a setup role almost by default. Aside from Octavio Dotel at closer the rest of the bullpen is pretty wide open and the Pirates are long on middle relief-caliber arms.