Olivo vs. Buck

The mystery behind the Miguel Olivo signing became a little more clear in an article by Sam Mellinger in the Star this morning.

When asked whether John Buck was still the number one catcher, Dayton Moore spoke about how deep this acquisition made the Royals behind the plate, which pretty much answers the question without answering it. And Moore said that Hillman may use Buck or Olivo as a DH sometimes. You'd think that Olivo might be a good candidate for DH against lefties since he hit .295 against them last year, but Billy Butler hit .340.

Speaking of batter averages, Mellinger pointed out that Olivo hits lefties well (but hit just .221 against RHP last year) and that Buck fairs better against righties (.231 last season against RHP vs. .189 against LHP). Looks to me like Olivo ought to be playing against lefties, while Buck has the slight edge against righties. But obviously they both struggle against RHP, so it probably doesn't matter who plays against them.