In an expected move, general manager Neal Huntington of the Pittsburgh Pirates said (via Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com) his club will decline the options for catchers Ryan Doumit and Chris Snyder.

“I hate closing doors,” Huntington said, “but I think it’s realistic to assume that neither option is realistically in play at this point in time.”

Both catchers have a buyout in the contract.  Snyder will be paid $750,000 while Doumit will be paid $500,000.

“We have some level of interest, in a vacuum, of keeping both players,” Huntington said, but it doesn’t seem likely that they would.

“The impact Snyder has had on our staff since he got here is measurable,” Huntington added. “That’s an important element for us to keep in mind. His impact is measured much more than just in batting average and home runs that he hit. If he gets healthy and is able to come back, those benefits are still tangible.”

Image by Navin75 under the Creative Commons License.