The Pittsburgh Pirates have designated Michael Morse for assignment to clear room on the 40-man roster for pitcher A.J. Schugel. With Juan Nicasio lasting three innings yesterday and Francisco Liriano day-to-day with a hamstring injury, Schugel has been added to provide them with extra bullpen depth.
Morse started once in the first eight games of the season. He pinch-hit in five other games and went 0-for-8 at the plate. The move to add Schugel is likely a short-term move and the Pirates have Jason Rogers at Indianapolis, who can fill the same role that Morse was filling. Schugel has pitched once with Indianapolis, throwing a scoreless inning on Sunday. He needed just 12 pitches in that game, so he should be available for multiple innings tonight if Ryan Vogelsong runs into any trouble.
Also today, Pedro Florimon cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Indianapolis. He has 72 hours to accept or refuse the assignment. Indianapolis is already stretched fairly thin for playing time due to all of the prospects at the level. If Jason Rogers does eventually replace Schugel and assumes Michael Morse’s role, that would open up a roster spot for Florimon. It wouldn’t however clear up the issue of having Gift Ngoepe, Alen Hanson, Max Moroff, Dan Gamache and Adam Frazier all playing at least one of the three positions Florimon plays. While the Pirates would like to retain him for depth, Florimon might decide that he has a better shot to get back to the majors elsewhere.
John Holdzkom is officially a free agent now after clearing release waivers. The Pirates released him two days ago, but other teams were still able to claim him while he was on release waivers.
