Charlie Morton is expected to return soon, following his most recent rehab outing with Indianapolis this week. However, that return will be delayed, as Morton will make one more rehab start on Tuesday, according to Travis Sawchik.
Charlie Morton will make one more rehab start (May 19) then join the rotation, according to Clint Hurdle. Who will he replace? Stay tuned
— Travis Sawchik (@Travis_Sawchik) May 16, 2015
Despite this delay, it looks like the Pirates have already made the switch in the rotation to clear a spot for Morton. Vance Worley seemed like the most likely candidate to be removed, as I outlined earlier this week. Bill Brink reports that the Pirates will skip Worley in the rotation this week, due to the off-days allowing a four man rotation.
Pirates will skip Worley in rotation vs. Twins, with an off day on either side of the two game series. Liriano and Locke will start.
— Bill Brink (@Bill_Brink2) May 17, 2015
The good news about this is that it should give the bullpen a much needed boost, and allow the Pirates to call up an extra bench guy. I think it’s obvious that Wilfredo Boscan will eventually go down when the Pirates add a bench guy. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rob Scahill is the other guy who goes down when Morton joins the team, since that would allow the Pirates to preserve all of their bullpen depth.
