Pirates' Chase D'Arnaud has torn ligament, could have surgery

Rob Biertempfel reports that Chase D'Arnaud has a torn thumb ligament that could require surgery.

That likely means you can rule D'Arnaud out as a candidate for the last bench job, if you couldn't already, which leaves Josh Harrison, Brandon Inge, Jordy Mercer and Ivan DeJesus (and, I guess, Jared Goedert) competing for what I'm guessing will be two backup infielder spots.

D'Arnaud wasn't much of a candidate anyway -- his only real asset is his speed, and he's never really hit much above Class A+. He's still young enough to improve in his third year at Indianapolis, although I'm guessing a torn thumb ligament won't make it easy to hit. Anyway, right now, Mercer and DeJesus are better players.