Coke Hits DL, Adam Wilk and Andy Oliver To Fill In

Phil Coke has been placed on the 15-day disabled list after suffering a bone bruise in last night’s game. Adam Wilk has been called up from Toledo to take Coke’s roster spot for the time being, but it has been announced that Andy Oliver will make his first start of the year for the Tigers on Saturday. In order to make room on the 40-man roster for Wilk, Robbie Weinhardt has been designated for assignment.

Here’s the story from Tom Gage of the Detroit News:

Wilk figures step in to fill the role of the long man in the bullpen; Charlie Furbush will need some rest after throwing 53 pitches last night. Another roster move will need to be made prior to Saturday’s game, as Andy Oliver will need to be added to the active roster.

I’m not sure if the plan is to send Wilk back down or not. It seems a bit unnecessary to have to DFA Robbie Weinhardt just so a guy (that may never be needed) can sit in the bullpen for four days. Lester Oliveros and Brayan Villarreal are both on the 40-man roster already and could have been called up to fill the role without the need to potentially lose a player. It could simply be the case of Wilk being the best man for the job, and I couldn’t really argue with that.

Andy Oliver actually made his scheduled morning start today for the Mud Hens, but he was lifted in the third inning to prepare for his start in Detroit on Saturday. He’ll actually be pitching on only three full days of rest, but he only threw 38 pitches in today’s game, so fatigue shouldn’t really be an issue.

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