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This could be the key. If the pitchers enjoy throwing to Olivo, we're suddenly not talking about the blocking of Adam Moore anymore (because he can be "mentored" while catching 50 - 60 games). The signal that the M's have sent by signing Olivo isn't that they've given up on Moore...it's that they've given up on Rob Johnson.
What was Johnson's major selling point when he kept getting playing time? Hey, he calls a great game, the pitchers like him, etc., etc.
If Olivo can outhit Rob Johnson, and help Adam Moore ease his way into MLB level baseball over the course of the next couple of years, then he will be well worth the paycheck. Because Johnson wasn't going to be able to "mentor" Moore on the finer arts of catching - they're both at very close to the same level of development...and why would Johnson want to? If Moore fell on his face again coming out of ST, would anyone really want Josh Bard starting on a regular basis? Or, as much as I like him, Zaun? Not for 110 starts, no thanks.
Olivo, on the other hand, can be the veteran...and over the course of the next 2 years, slowly start to hand the reigns to a (by all accounts) very motivated understudy. If Moore actually comes along faster than that, well, big woop - it's 3.5 mill. And, we no longer have to worry about patching the "backup" hole at catcher with stopgap veterans in the meantime.
So to me, the 2 year signing actually signals a possible era of stabilty behind the dish, assuming Moore actually does continue to progress.