Phillies added another arm to the bullpen pile, acquire Chase Shugart from the Pittsburgh Pirates

The Phillies added another arm to the bullpen pile earlier this week, acquiring right-hander Chase Shugart from the Pirates. Philadelphia sent Minor League infielder Francisco Loreto to Pittsburgh to get him.

Shugart is 29 and put up a 3.40 ERA in 35 appearances for the Pirates last season. The important part here is that he still has Minor League options, which gives the Phillies some flexibility while they sort out what this bullpen is actually going to look like in Clearwater.

Phillies acquire Chase Shugart from the Pirates for Francisco Loreto

Welcome to Philly, Chase!

The Phillies have acquired RHP Chase Shugart from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for minor league INF Francisco Loreto. With today’s transaction, the Phillies 40-man roster is currently at 40 players. pic.twitter.com/M9ItUrmpYP

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) January 13, 2026

This move also jams the roster even tighter.

The Phillies’ 40-man is now full at 40 players, which matters if they want to add anyone else. If they plan on signing a free agent like J.T. Realmuto or Bo Bichette, they will need to clear a spot first. On top of that, there is more potential roster drama floating around, with sources indicating both the team and Nick Castellanos are expecting a separation before Spring Training.

As for the bullpen itself, most of it looks spoken for already.

Six of the eight spots feel close to locked in with right-handers Jhoan Duran, Brad Keller, Orion Kerkering and Jonathan Bowlan, plus left-handers José Alvarado and Tanner Banks.

That leaves two jobs left, and Chase Shugart is walking into a crowd fighting for them. He is joining a spring competition that includes Zach Pop, Rule 5 pick Zach McCambley, Yoniel Curet, Tyler Backus, and returnees like Nolan Hoffman, Seth Johnson and Max Lazar, among others.

The big picture is simple. The Phillies are going into 2026 with a revamped bullpen and they are clearly trying to stockpile as many usable options as possible before camp opens. They finally have a defined closer in Duran under Rob Thomson, but they also traded away their most consistent left-handed reliever in Matt Strahm earlier this offseason.

That Strahm deal brought back Bowlan, who is out of Minor League options, and it kicked off a wave of bullpen churn that has kept going with Curet, McCambley, Backus, Pop, and now Chase Shugart.

This is what the Phillies are doing right now. They are buying lottery tickets in bulk and letting spring decide who is actually worth keeping when the games start to count.

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