Olney: Pirates Close to Two-Year Deal With Ramon Vazquez
by Charlie Wilmoth on Dec 11, 2008 11:04 AM EST
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PrintBuster Olney reports that the Pirates are close to a two-year, $4 million deal with utility infielder Ramon Vazquez. Vazquez can handle all four infield positions, and he's coming off a career year with the Rangers in which he posted a .365 OBP and a .430 slugging percentage. His home park helped him with those numbers, but he still managed a .750 OPS on the road. He did, however, have an unsustainably high .349 BABIP.
Vazquez should be useful, if uninspiring. He's a lefty batter and he hits righties pretty well, so he should be able to spell Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson (if they're both still Pirates) against tough righties. He doesn't hit well, but he has a decent batting eye, and for a utility infielder, that's good enough.
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Could do worse, I guess.
2008 was probably a fluke, but the glove isn’t bad, and even if he drops down to his 2007 level he’s a good UT IF or a palatable temp starter.
You'll feel better . . .
. . . if you keep in mind that last year this was Luis Rivas.
Vazquez looks to me like an above-average player for a UT guy.
yawn
like putting seat heaters in a junkyard car.
Say Goodbye to Doug M
I think this means we won’t pursue Doug M. Maybe now Randy Johnson will sign with us! ;-)
Not necessarily.
Vazquez is a 2B/3B type. We probably still need a 1B/3B type for the bench, too, unless that turns out to be Pearce.
I like the idea of signing
Ramon Vazquez, and I wouldn’t mind having Doug Mientkiewicz back, too.
This might not be the most exciting thing and all, but you need quality MLB-caliber depth over a 162-game season, even if it just means that the losing becomes a little more bearable.
They could always bring back Don Kelly,
if Brian Bixler doesn’t seem promising enough.
Amended prediction
I’m not so sure Jack will be moved before Opening Day now, but the SS will eventually be a platoon of Vazquez, who is unstartable against lefties, and Luis Cruz.
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