By Mark Sheldon

The Reds have made their decision on the №2 catcher’s role. On Tuesday at the deadline of a contractual clause to be added to the big league roster, the club offered non-roster catcher Miguel Olivo a $100,000 retention bonus to report to Triple-A Louisville. Olivo is still deciding on what he might do.

“I would hate to see him go,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “Sometimes contractual things supersede, sort of preclude what you want to do.”

But it means that Devin Mesoraco will be on the Opening Day roster. He enters today batting .361 this spring and has looked tremendous in general at the plate.

“It’s not like Mesoraco didn’t earn it. He did play well,” Baker said. “Yesterday he had a bad game but other than that, he’s been great. You hope he’s gotten to the point where he’s mature enough where he realizes it’s only a bad game and then you forget about it and don’t dwell on it.”

In 21 games, Olivo batted .167 with one homer and four RBIs.

If Olivo does accept the assignment to Louisville, the next out clause he has is June 1, when he can ask for his release if he’s not on the big league roster.