Chris Snyder Injury: Pirates Catcher Having Surgery, May Not Return In 2011

It was bad enough when Pirates catcher Chris Snyder was placed on the disabled list with a recurrence of back tightness. That meant that, for at least the next two weeks, the Pirates would be down to their third- and fourth-string catchers. But now things have only gotten worse. Rob Biertempfel, on Snyder's situation:

pirates c chris snyder will have back surgery tomorrow. Rest of season is in limbo.

So Snyder's having an operation that may end his 2011 season, and while it also may not, it's clear he won't be coming back any time soon. Back injuries are kind of big deals.

So, barring a move, the Pirates will have to survive with the Dusty Brown/Wyatt Toregas tandem for longer than they would've liked. Ryan Doumit is on track to return from an ankle injury sometime near the middle or end of July, but that's still more than a month away.

Chris Snyder Injury: Back Sends Pirates Backstop To DL

The Pittsburgh Pirates are already without starting catcher Ryan Doumit, who's sitting on the disabled list with an ankle injury. So they really didn't need for something to happen to backstop Chris Snyder as well. But something did happen to Chris Snyder, and now Snyder has been placed on the 15-day disabled list.

Snyder left Wednesday's game with tightness in his back, which is the same problem that forced him to the DL earlier in the season. He isn't expected to miss a bunch of time, but back injuries can linger, as Snyder so clearly shows.

In his place, the Pirates will lean on Dusty Brown to carry the load behind the plate. They've also promoted Wyatt Toregas to serve as Brown's backup. Given that Doumit has a .774 OPS and Snyder has a .772 OPS while neither Brown nor Toregas offer much with the bat, it's plain to see that the injured regulars will be missed.