The Pittsburgh Pirates made several roster moves this morning. Here is the recap:
Leaving the Roster
**Jose Tabata was placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive May 25th, with a left oblique strain.
**Bryan Morris was optioned to Triple-A.
**Jeff Karstens was transferred to the 60-day disabled list.
Joining the Roster
**Josh Harrison was promoted from Triple-A.
**The Pirates purchased the contract of Mike Zagurski.
Zagurski is a left-hander who had a 2.14 ERA in 21 innings with Indianapolis, along with a 37:9 K/BB ratio. He has been added to the 40-man roster, and the move of Karstens to the 60-day disabled list creates space for his addition. That won’t impact the return of Karstens, since he wasn’t expected back before June 1st with a recent setback.
Otherwise, the moves come down to a swap of Morris and Tabata for Zagurski and Harrison. I’m not sure why the Pirates opted to go with Harrison over an outfielder. It seems that Travis Snider will be getting a lot of time in the outfield, unless the team opts to go with Garrett Jones and Gaby Sanchez in the same lineup against right-handers, which would be a mistake.
UPDATE 11:46 AM: Charlie brought up a good question about a potential out-clause with Zagurski playing a role in today’s move. I’ve confirmed that Zagurski had a June 1st out-clause, which played a part in his addition to the roster.
