Andy Marte signing what does it mean?

The Pirates signed three guys to minor league deals.
Dusty Brown is just a catcher for AAA.

Fernando Nieve will get his chance to make the bullpen. The Pirates are going to probably sign a lot more pitchers to minor league deals. Nieve is nice organizational depth. Hopefully won't break camp with the team, but is a guy you can go to for those 15 day DL solutions in the pen.

Andy Marte is the real interesting signing. Marte is a AAAA kind of 3rd baseman. A prospect bust for the Indians. The Pirates are currently missing a back up third baseman on the major league roster, but I doubt Marte is expected to get that job. He will have his shot at it, but it is going to be a long shot. The question then becomes if Marte is not the backup third baseman for the big leagues, what is his role?

The obvious answer is the third baseman for the AAA Indians. But since Marte is a 27 year old non-prospect, why put him at third to block real prospects? The Indians were going to have a real nice infield. D'Arnaud, Mercer, and Harrison. Jordy Mercer spent time at third as did Josh Harrison. Marte is not going to be a back up at Indy. I think that this might signal a move for these two guys. Third base is blocked at the major league level. A faster track to the big leagues would be for them to play a different position. Both of them can. Mercer is a natural short stop and plays second as well. Harrison also plays second, but in the Arizona Fall League played a little of everywhere including the outfield. Could it be that the AAA Indians will have Mercer at second and Harrison in the outfield in order to make the more useful quicker at the major league level?

This makes sense no matter how you look at it. Even if you are assuming that Alvarez is going to shift to first soon. Walker is not good defensively at second, and is better at third. Mercer (or perhaps D'Arnaud) makes more sense at second. Harrison then gets to either take the third outfield slot, or more likely be the 4th outfielder who has the ability to be the back up utility infielder as well.

We have to wait and see of course, but I think the Marte signing says more about the prospects in our system now than it does for the Pirates 2011 major league roster.