Pirates acquire Brian Jeroloman

The Pirates have acquired catcher Brian Jeroloman from the Indians for cash, and are sending him to Indianapolis. This is the second time the Bucs have acquired Jeroloman -- he was briefly in the organization last offseason.

There are two ways to look at this. One is to guess that the Pirates are sticking it to the Blue Jays for claiming Clint Robinson. The Bucs initially claimed Jeroloman on waivers from the Jays in November 2011, then lost him when the Jays claimed him back shortly thereafter. Hey Toronto! You take something we like, we take something you like.

The more serious way to explain this is that the Pirates were reportedly interested in catching depth, and Jeroloman fits the bill, even though he can't hit at all. I also wonder whether, given the Bucs' seemingly strange level of interest in him, he might be a player the Pirates are targeting to be a coach one day. The Pirates targeted current farm director Larry Broadway while he was still a player, for example.

And, to answer your next question, yes, this is the only photo of Brian Jeroloman in the database.

UPDATE: The Pirates did not "claim" Jeroloman, as I mistakenly wrote in the front-page teaser. They acquired him in a trade.