Roster Getting Clearer

Today the Pirates announced that Ross Ohlendorf will be in the starting rotation. No big surprise there. It seemed for most of the spring, he was going to be given that chance to be in the rotation to start the season. The only spot left is the fifth man in that rotation and I'd say it heavily favors Jeff Karstens.

The other roster news was the Bucs reassigned to their minor league camp, Steve Pearce, Robinson Diaz, and Anderson Machado. The assignment of Machado is not earth shattering, he was mainly staying in camp this long perhaps for added depth. The other two are rather significant.

As for Pearce, he is going to Indianapolis to play first base, what that may mean for Garret Jones at Indy is anyone's guess right now. It seems the Bucs, at least publicly, are saying that Steve Pearce will be their first baseman next season. They want him to get work in and show that he is capable of handling the responsibilities once Adam LaRoche is gone. My guess is that Pearce is one of, hopefully, many plans being formulated for when Adam LaRoche leaves. We will see how things shake out on the that front as the minor league season progresses.

In the competition to backup Doumit, Robinson Diaz lost out to Jason Jaramillo. Really this competition could have gone either way. If they wanted offense they could have gone with Diaz. It they wanted defense, they go with Jaramillo, and that is what they decided to do for the at least the beginning of the season. I don't doubt that at some point, Jarmillo and Diaz will be swapping positions. Huntington, himself, alluded to just that type of scenario.

Finally a quick word on Jose Tabata. He is a very young man, not even old enough to legally buy alcohol, but what he has been through what men twice his age could not have handled better. I applaud him for facing the media himself, granted it was in Spanish, but nonetheless he wanted to make it known what was going on. Many can argue that perhaps he showed bad judgment in getting involved with his wife in the first place, but keep in mind he is a young man. Maybe immaturity played a role in his bad judgment or his youthful gullibility, but I think he showed a great deal and hopefully he will continue to mature from this experience and be able to put his personal issues behind him when he steps between the lines.