The Pirates have acquired lefty Phil Coke from the Yankees for cash considerations, the teams announced. Pittsburgh will need to make a 40-man roster move to accommodate the acquisition.
Coke, 34, made three major league appearances earlier in the year for New York, but has spent the bulk of the season at Triple-A. Though he has pitched almost exclusively as a reliever for most of his big league career, Coke made 11 starts during his time at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
On the year, Coke threw to a 2.96 ERA over 70 frames at the highest level of the minors. He compiled 7.8 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9, with 68 hits and just three home runs recorded against him.
It’s a bit unclear what Pittsburgh plans to do with Coke, though he will indeed be headed for the major league roster. He could conceivably take a start or two in an effort at a Rich Hill-like metamorphosis, or may just log some frames from the pen. The Pirates are technically still alive in the Wild Card race, but only barely. Coke will again be a free agent at season’s end.
Off topic – Is anyone having difficulty accesing MLBTR via the web on your mobile phone? The page loads, but every time I click an article, the page is shown trying to load (with the loading bar moving back and forth, but nothing else happening)
Every now and again (I also use the web page, not app), it will give me an “unknown login key” error when I try to access an article. Also, minor issues with it refreshing. Sometimes I have to go back to my bookmark and click on that in order to have it load the newer article titles.
I haven’t had that issue lately, but the iPhone app hasn’t worked for some time.
I’ve sometimes deleted it and reinstalled on my iPhone and that’s sorted it quick enough.
So the Pirates bought Coke to end the season? Seems fitting.
LOL. That’s cold.
Pay the man Shirley.
Need to acquire a relief pitcher named Sprite and then choose between Coke or Sprite
They traded Coke for cash? Why aren’t they getting investigated by the league?
Coke tossed 2 perfect relief IP in the AAA championship game on 9/20 for the winners, Scranton Wilkes-Barre. He also tossed 7IP of 4H, 9K, 1 run ball to win a game in the International League finals. He has earner another shot and seems to be tuned up. Best wishes, Phil Coke.
You’d have to be strung out on coke to believe this guy can still pitch.
It’s ironic to see Coke come to Pittsburgh. He was rumored to be a part of the package that had sent Nady to the Yankees but was later changed.