Spring training is winding down, which means that the real roster moves start coming pretty quickly now. There were a slew of them today and some of them are notable, even if they aren’t surprising.
Today, the Pirates made the unsurprising announcements that Ross Ohlendorf will be in the starting rotation and Paul Maholm will be the Opening Day starter. Paired with those annoucements, Steve Pearce and Robinzon Diaz were both optioned to the minor leagues. Even with talk about Nyjer Morgan’s struggles this spring becoming prevelant in this past week, Pearce is headed to the minors with a week left in camp. Not a good sign for him. Diaz’s demotion means that Jason Jaramillo is the backup catcher, which isn’t really surprising given that the Pirates traded for him after they acquired Diaz and because he’s got some history with John Russell. Given their minor league histories, I think I like Diaz a little more, but this is a pretty inconsequential move right now. I think both players will see some time with the Pirates this year, especially if Doumit gets hurt.
