Pirates promote A.J. Schugel, designate Michael Morse for assignment

The Pirates have announced that they've selected the contract of righty A.J. Schugel and designated Michael Morse for assignment. Also, Pedro Florimon has cleared waivers and has 72 hours to decide whether to accept an assignment to Indianapolis. John Holdzkom has cleared release waivers and is now a free agent.

Schugel will likely join the team because the Bucs had to rely on Kyle Lobstein and Cory Luebke for five innings yesterday, and Ryan Vogelsong is, at least temporarily, headed to the rotation, with Francisco Liriano's next turn being missed due to hamstring trouble.

Morse, meanwhile, mostly became irrelevant once the Pirates acquired David Freese. The Bucs also have another righty first baseman in Jason Rogers, who I'm guessing might come up for awhile once the pitching staff gets settled. Morse went 0-for-8 for the Pirates this year. He did bat .275/.390/.391 down the stretch after arriving in Pittsburgh when the Bucs dumped Jose Tabata last year, but Morse had no trade value himself due to his sketchy recent track record and relatively expensive contract.