The hot stove continues to slowly warm for your Pirates. Recent moves:

• The Pirates removed pitcher Jeff Karstens and catcher Robinzon Diaz from their 40-man roster. Karstens was outrighted to Class-AAA Indianapolis, and Diaz was released by the club. The Pirates also released veteran pitcher Tyler Yates, who is still recovering from his latest elbow surgery.
• To fill the vacant slots on the 40-man roster
• Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the Pirates are interested in trying to sign free-agent pitcher Justin Duchscherer. Duchscherer missed last season after undergoing hip and elbow surgeries, as well as battling his recently-diagnosed clinical depression. Duchscherer, who has spent most of his career as a reliever, worked his way into the Oakland Athletics' rotation in 2008, and had an outstanding year, posting a 10-8 record, 2.54 ERA, and a stellar 1.0 WHIP (walks+hits/innings pitched, essentially equating to earned base runners per inning). If the Pirates manage to land Duchscherer, he'd be in for a bullpen spot -- likely long relief -- but could be pressed into rotation duty if both Kevin Hart and Daniel McCutchen fail to secure the fifth spot in the rotation. This is, of course, if Duchscherer declines the arbitration offered to him yesterday by Oakland.
• The Pirates are also rumored to be interested in Kansas City's Jamey Wright, San Francisco's Noah Lowry. ESPN's Jerry Cransick has also reported that the Pirates have inquired about free-agent reliever J.J. Putz, most recently of the Mets, and that the Toronto Blue Jays could be interested in acquiring catcher Ryan Doumit. 
• Ross Ohlendorf, the Pirates' best pitcher last season and probably the smartest guy in any Major League dugout, has spent his off-season as an unpaid intern at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
• TBS has put a merciful end to the Chip Caray era.
• Oh, and the Pirates just signed a left-handed pitcher who, according to Wikipedia, once disassembled and ate his own hat in the dugout.