The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired lefty pitcher Phil Coke from the New York Yankees yesterday. To make room on the 40-man roster, they have placed reliever A.J. Schugel on the disabled list with a shoulder injury. Coke is in uniform and available for tonight’s game.
Schugel hasn’t pitched since throwing two shutout innings on August 30th. He finishes the season with a 3.63 ERA in 52 innings over 36 appearances. He had 46 strikeouts and a 1.04 WHIP.
Coke has been pitching in the Triple-A playoffs, making his last appearance just three days ago when he threw two shutout innings. He also made two seven inning starts in the playoffs, so he should be able to give the Pirates some innings if needed. Neftali Feliz and Jeff Locke have also been out recently, so the rest of the bullpen has been getting a lot of work during a time when the arms usually stay fresh due to the expanded roster.
