Roster Getting Clearer?

Colin Dunlap reported today that the Pirates had optioned Pedro Ciriaco to the minors, which would make the notion of Josh Rodriguez sticking around a near certainty. While Ciriaco was having a good spring, it makes sense to send him down, as the team can get a longer look at Rodriguez to see what they have with him. The Pirates don't have the luxury of sending him down to AAA, so giving him a month or so to see what he can do in the majors is no big deal.

In the same report, Dunlap says that it appears likely that Chris Snyder will start the season on the DL, meaning that Ryan Doumit and Jason Jaramillo will be the catchers to start the season. It will be interesting to see which they use as the starter or how they split time between the two of the them.

It is the the news of the catchers that gives me pause, though some are chirping that the adding of Rodriguez over Ciriaco is a disaster, I see what could have been a worse disaster in Dunlap's final paragraph.

Had Snyder been healthy, there was a chance the club would have carried three catchers....

Why would they consider something that stupid? Do they view Ryan Doumit as an outfielder? A first baseman? A big pinch hitter bat? Doumit is none of the first two and is clearly overpaid as a bench player. The only justification I could see for bringing all three catchers north, would be that they view Doumit as their pinch hitter, and as such, you would need Jaramillo to catch for him after pinch hitting.

If that is indeed the case, then Doumit needs to go, as he has no position, except as a hitter. That does not work in the National League, as they don't use the designated hitter. Unfortunately he does not hit all that well to be a professional hitter so we are stuck in this quagmire.