Pirates Reportedly Acquire Michael McKenry To Help At Catcher

Dejan Kovacevic reports that a source tells him the Pirates have acquired catcher Michael McKenry from the Red Sox, although this isn't yet confirmed. McKenry is a minor-league vet, so if the deal goes through, I assume the Red Sox are getting "future considerations" or cash, or perhaps a Class A reliever.

This move wouldn't normally attract much attention, but the Pirates are struggling right now, with Chris Snyder, Ryan Doumit and Jason Jaramillo on the shelf, leaving them with an extremely weak catching tandem of Dusty Brown and Wyatt Toregas. McKenry hasn't played in the big leagues before and isn't anything special, but he's supposed to be strong defensively, and he should be able to provide a bit more offense than Brown and Toregas can. I'm still partial to the idea of calling up Eric Fryer from Indianapolis and giving him the bulk of the playing time behind the plate, but McKenry does appear to be an upgrade. If the deal is completed, Toregas will probably be designated for assignment, and he'll likely end up back at Indianapolis.

UPDATE: The Pirates have officially acquired McKenry for cash or a player to be named. If it's the latter, it almost certainly won't be anyone significant. Toregas has been designated for assignment, as I suggested above.