Another day, another roster move.

The Pirates announced that infielder Brent Morel has been recalled from Class AAA Indianapolis and in order to make move for him, they have optioned pitcher Jeff Locke.

Just to illustrate what a farce these kinds of moves are in baseball (using an option on a guy a few days before rosters expand to avoid needing to use the disabled list) when Clint Hurdle announced it today, he wasn’t even sure which minor league affiliate Locke was going to be “optioned” to. It has since been announced as Indianapolis.

So in essence, the Pirates with Lambo Friday and Morel today now have 27 players squeezed on a 25-man roster. Yeah, I know that Gerrit Cole and Jeff Locke are technically not on the roster, but they are still here and are going to pitch Monday and Tuesday.

Nevertheless the larger story is that the Pirates need Morel and Lambo to fill out their bench because Travis Snider and Pedro Alvarez are still not ready to play.

Snider (hamstring) is apparently closer than Alvarez (foot) but Hurdle doesn’t expect to have either until at least Monday.

Here are today’s lineups:

REDS

Hamilton - 8

Frazier - 5

Phillips - 4

Mesoraco - 2

Pena - 3

Bruce - 9

Cozart - 6

Schumaker - 7

Simon - 1

PIRATES

Harrison - 5

Lambo - 9

McCutchen - 8

Walker - 4

Martin - 2

Davis - 3

Marte - 7

Mercer - 6

Worley - 1

Couple of other notes:

** Had a long discussion with Charlie Morton today and I’d say there is a distinct possibility that he may be done for the season at least as a starter. He has a lot of discomfort from a sports hernia and he said it hasn’t improved in two weeks despite rehab and whatnot. He said he now has to at least consider the possibility of surgery and if he can’t help the team win games there is no sense putting it off. He said he might go into the bullpen if need be but right now his return isn’t certain. He is in some pain and it is in a place where, if he continues to pitch it seems to get irritated.

** In case you are wondering ... Morel hit .271 (91-for-336) with 19 doubles, two triples, four home runs and 53 RBI in 92 games this year with Indianapolis. He has also hit .143 (3-for-21) with a double and three RBI in 12 games over three previous stints with the Pirates this season.

** Hurdle did not have an update on Alvarez or Sinder and said he wouldn’t until he talked to trainers later today. Like I said, it sounds like Alvarez, who I saw today and he was limping pretty badly, is further away from playing than Snider but only time will tell.

** Hurdle talked at length about “speed” being the one tool that shows up every single day. In other words, he talks to his guys about running all the time because speed is an underrated asset. He wants fielders to know that if they bobble a ball, make even a double clutch or a throw that is a little off line that the Pirates players will make them pay because they are running as fast as they can to the bases. He also said playing against a speedy player like Hamilton is only a challenge if you let it be a challenge. He said he talks to pitchers all the time about having the same routine and pitching the same way regardless of whether or not Hamilton is on base or not.

** About today’s starter, Vance Worley --  who hasn’t been very good his last three outings and mostly because he has had a “blowup” inning where he has gotten rocked -- Hurdle said he needs to be a little less aggressive. Hurdle said he has had “a lot of misses in the strike zone” early in games. He said there is a fine line between being aggressive and wanting to throw strikes and throwing too many strikes instead of throwing some stuff out of the zone to either set up other pitches or get the hitters to chase. 

First Published: March 24, 2016, 5:07 p.m.