Battling Bucs : Roster Roulette

The Pirates roster is currently a mess. There are only 3 starting pitchers currently on the team, meaning it is possible that both of this weekend's starters are not on the active roster as of Wednesday this week. Due to this oddity the team currently has both an extra reliever and an extra position player on the team. In addition to all this the composition of those 14 position players itself is a little off. Currently two player, Jose Tabata and Russell Martin are nursing minor injuries and their availability for games is uncertain. Of the 12 healthy active position players there are 8 primary infielders on the team in Jones, Sanchez, Mercer, Barmes, Alvarez, Inge, Harrison and McDonald leaving only 4 healthy active bodies to cover 3 outfield spots and the catching position. Some of the many infielders can masquerade as outfielders but that in itself really isn't a solution to this problem.
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Going forward the Pirates obviously can not keep the team structured as it is for long. Changes and quite a few of them have to be coming some time with in the next week. The question is what are those changes going to be?
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Wednesday
Duke Welker is supposedly set to join the team giving the Pirates another bullpen arm. The corresponding move for Welker is unknown at this point and it is tough to say if it will be a pitcher or a hitter. The bullpen even with an unusable Jeanmar Gomez is still at the typical capacity level of 7 relievers but they are worn arms so an extra arm for a few days certainly couldn't hurt. Logically it makes sense to give the bullpen the boost and return to a 13:12 hitter to pitcher balance but depending on the health of Tabata and Martin that may not be feasible. My guess is one of the middle infielders get the boot. Harrison would make the most sense but if that was the plan why call him up at all? The possibility exists that it could be Mercer being sent down or maybe even McDonald being DFA'd. Update: Harrison was indeed sent down to make room for Duke Welker
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Saturday
Fransisco Liriano is scheduled to come off the DL and make his Pirates debut. He will start the game and give the Pirates a 4th starting pitcher on the active roster. The Pirates will have to make room for Liriano on the roster. The logical assumption here is that he will simply replace Welker and if a position player instead of a pitcher is removed to make room for Welker as I expect that will likely be the corresponding move.
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Sunday
On Sunday there are no definite moves that will be made but there are two potential moves that could be made. Walker is eligible to come off the DL and is expected to return either Sunday or Monday so one day or the a move for him will have to be made. This will likely be an infielder for infielder swap. It is possible that any one of the Mercer, Harrison, McDonald trio will be removed for Welker and whichever two aren't removed for him will be the top candidates for a Walker spot. If Harrison survives the Welker promotion I don't see him making it past this but if he doesn't the choice gets a little more interesting. Mercer is showing himself to be fairly capable in the limited action he has gotten so far and McDonald has looked completely useless in his limited time so far. However McDonald has the guaranteed contract and no way of being sent to the minors. I would like to assume the Pirates would opt to keep the better player but that isn't how the Pirates or actually baseball operates. Some times moves are made that keep inferior players on the roster so control can be kept over both players and that is what I expect will happen here as well.
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The second possible move is a move to bring up a starting pitcher. Realistically speaking looking at the AAA rotation the only option is Andy Oliver. Oliver is scheduled to start Saturday but delaying him a day wouldn't be a big deal. The alternative of course is to have Jeanmar Gomez pick up another start. I'm unsure which direction the Pirates will go here but I would tend to lean towards Gomez picking up the start. He has proven to be serviceable in his two spots start so far and has probably earned a longer look. If Oliver is called up the corresponding move would probably be the demotion of Bryan Morris although the possibility of Mazzaro being DFA'd would be another route to consider.
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Injured Players
In addition to all these upcoming roster moves the Pirates also have the two currently injured position players on the active roster and Charlie Morton, who was set to return next Tuesday. Morton is now unlikely to return on Tuesday but his return is upcoming very shortly. The obvious move for Morton would be sneding down Oliver if he is recalled or doing one of the moves I suggested to bring Oliver up if he isn't recalled. As for Martin and Tabata neither seem to be too injured but the facts remain their availability is unknown at this point. The Pirates understandably don't want to put Martin on the DL but if he is out for more than just 2 or 3 days something will likely have to be done to call up Tony Sanchez. Tabata on the other hand shouldn't be a priority to keep off the DL. His alternative, likely Alex Presley, doesn't result in a huge dropoff in talent. I personally like the skill set Tabata brings to the 4th outfield job for the Pirates better than Presley but the difference is quite small.Holding him out this long without DLing him seems a bit strange to me. All of this doesn't even mention James McDonald who since he was retroactively placed on the DL could be back as early as late next week. I doubt we see him that soon but anything is possible.
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As is always the case this time of year the Pirates roster is going to be shuffled a lot in the coming days and hopefully the players coming in are able to play at a high level and keep the Pirates good play continuing. The Pirates need help from all sources. It may only be a 25 man roster but as all these roster moves show a team needs to rely on much more than just 25 guys to be successful.