UPDATE: 4:30 p.m. Just saw that the Reds disabled Ryan Hanigan (sprained left wrist), retroactive to yesterday, and promoted Corky Miller (#37). Long live the ‘stache!

Everyone wants Corky Miller’s autograph.

Ryan Hanigan is suffering from a sore left wrist that was so bad the other day that he couldn’t close his hand. It’s a little hard to catch a pitch without that particular skill.

Meanwhile, Devin Mesoraco is suffering from back spasms that are bad enough that he’s obviously cringing on the field. He wasn’t exactly great at throwing runners out anyway; try stopping the running game with your back locking up.

Ironically, the team that never used to think twice about wasting a roster spot on a third catcher, even when the first two were in fine shape, is reluctant to bring in a third catcher now, when one is clearly needed. I don’t even know who the emergency catcher is, and that emergency seems like a real possibility about now.

I hope it’s Joey Votto, because I think that would be amazing to see. Votto was a catcher earlier in his career, so he probably still has the skills in there somewhere. That would be a pretty damn expensive backstop, though, especially if he got hurt, as everyone is apparently doing these days.

Much more realistic is for the team to bring Corky Miller back onto the scene. The 37-year old with the signature facial hair has bailed the Reds out more than once. The only trouble is, he’s not on the 40-man roster.

So to make room, the Reds would either have to put someone on the 60-day DL (Devin and Hani are in pain, but it’s not 2-months off kind of pain) or take someone else off the 40-man roster. There are probably some guys on this list who have options, especially one of the pitchers. Pitchers currently take up 22 of the spots; the team could probably spare one, especially considering the great work Miller has done in relief for the Bats.

On the other hand, it’s been the offense, not the defense, that’s been letting the team down lately, and Corky doesn’t add much of that. Besides, that lengthy list of pitching prospects on the 40-man may need to stay there to protect them from the Rule 5 draft.

So, it’s probably the case that our two current catchers are just going to have to gut it out in the short term. It’s still nice to put up a picture of the ‘stache, though.