Shuffling

Chris Snyder is back with the Pirates today after a brief, scorching rehab stint with Advanced-A Bradenton. There was some thought that Snyder’s return would mean the demotion of Steve Pearce or John Bowker, but the corresponding roster move is Jason Jaramillo heading back down to Indianapolis. It’ll be interesting to see how Clint Hurdle uses Doumit and Snyder over the next couple weeks; Doumit’s both looked passable behind the plate and hit better than the Garrett Jones/Matt Diaz platoon in right field thus far, but without Jaramillo on the roster there’s a chance that Hurdle will keep whoever’s not catching firmly planted on the bench. I’d be surprised if he didn’t try to work Doumit into the lineup pretty regularly, though, either by sharing time with Snyder or at the expense of Jones/Diaz. Neither Jones nor Diaz has shown much in the field or at the plate, so even though I never would’ve said this two months ago, I’d be fine with getting Doumit some reps in the outfield. 

Joe Beimel is also nearing his return, possibly as soon a the weekend. Since he’s on a minor league contract, the club will have to remove someone from the 40-man roster to make room for him. That could be Garrett Olson, which would make sense because he’s the most logical candiate for Beimel to replace on the 25-man roster as well (Crotta’s earned his keep so far and if Karstens is starting, they need McCutchen to be the swing-man). Of course, DFAing Olson would leave them with Tony Watson and Danny Moskos as their backup lefties in the event that Beimel gets hurt again. That might be OK in June, depending on how they perform with Indianapolis, but it’s obviously not a situation Hurdle liked being in in camp, which is why Beimel and then Olson were acquired in the first place. If Olson isn’t the one to get DFA’d, then I’d guess it would be Chris Leroux, with McCutchen going back to Triple-A and Crotta assuming the long-man role in the pen.