Following the signing of Lyle Overbay, Rob Biertempfel reports that the Pittsburgh Pirates are stepping up their efforts to trade catcher Ryan Doumit. Doumit will make $5.1 M in 2011, and after the addition of Overbay, will move to the bench as a very expensive backup catcher.
Doumit’s market value might have seen an increase recently, after the Yankees signed Russell Martin. Doumit and Martin are both very similar players over the last few years. Doumit has a .251/.318/.410 line over the last two seasons, combined with poor defense behind the plate and injury issues. Martin also has a .249/.350/.330 line over the last two seasons, poor defense, and injury concerns.
The Pirates will likely have to pick up a large portion of Doumit’s salary in order to get any sort of value in return. If Doumit is traded, Jason Jaramillo would likely take his spot on the major league roster as the backup catcher. The Pirates currently have two open spots on the 40-man roster, with three players who need to be added soon (Overbay, Matt Diaz, and Kevin Correia). A Doumit trade could clear that needed spot, although they could remove someone like Chris Leroux in the short term. Biertempfel mentions that the Pirates hope to finalize the Diaz contract today, and that before finalizing Correia’s contract, they have to remove a player from the roster, with Biertempfel mentioning Doumit as the likely possibility.
