I was thinking the same thing when I read he was called up.
I heard John Sickels on XM Radio’s baseball show during lunch. They were talking about the call-ups, and were surprised that the Pirates didn’t call up McCutchen, although they still may call him up later. I read an article where Huntington wants him to play winter ball in Mexico and want to give him a chance to rest.

LA promoted their 2008 2nd round pick Josh Lindblom a week or so ago, after 8 starts in single A. Is this the beginning of a trend now throughout baseball to promote their prospects quickly, as STL promoted their 3b prospect Brett Wallace to AA also.

this from the Journal & Carrier:

Logan White, the Dodgers’ assistant general manager of scouting, said Lindblom’s promotion was a reward for his season and the fact that he signed quickly after being selected the 61st pick overall in June’s amateur draft.

“It’s more of a way of saying, ’we’re proud of you for signing right away’ and he’s done a good job,” White said.

By not dragging out the signing process, White said Lindblom has quickened his path to the big leagues. White said Lindblom will likely start next season in Double-A.

“That’s one of the benefits of a player like Josh; he’s put himself a year ahead of schedule,” White said. “He’s positioned himself to accelerate his career. Having the opportunity of being in Double-A, it’s just a short stint to the major leagues.”

The Dodgers have demonstrated they will promote pitchers to the parent club either from their Double-A organization or after a short stint in Triple-A.

Pitchers Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton and Corey Wade all took similar paths to Los Angeles. Following Thursday’s game, Jacksonsville pitcher Scott Elbert was promoted to the Dodgers.

It sounds as if he is saying “if you sign quick, and perform well, you will be promoted quickly”.

Jose Tabata, OF, Double-A Altoona (Pirates)
Tabata was this season’s biggest disappointment in the Yankees system, but a funny thing happened following his move to the Pirates organization as part of the Xavier Nady trade—he started hitting, and hitting, and then he hit some more. With six hits in his last three games, Tabata ended up raking to the tune of .348/.402/.562 in his 22 games at Pittsburgh’s Double-A affiliate; looking once again like one of the better young hitters in the game. He even played a decent center field and stole eight bases without being caught (and that after swiping only 10 in 79 games for the Yankees’ Eastern League squad). It doesn’t totally discount the first two-thirds of the season in which Tabata did practically nothing, but it already makes the trade look better for Pittsburgh than it did at the time of execution.

I wonder if he will regain his prospect status now that he is out of the Yankees organization?