not to refer to Akinori Iwamura as “Aki” while he’s in a Bucco uniform.

It’s too feminine, regardless of what the people in the Tampa Bay organization thought the past 3 years.

Anyway, let’s hope he can be part of an improved PBC in 2010.

I admittedly do not know a lot of AI, but we traded away a demographic that seems more valuable to us than what we got in return. Me wonders if this does not signal a phase change from building the minors at all costs to now trying to put some legitimate big leaguers on the roster who can be the “mortar” to the “bricks” we are developing and plan to have in the bigs soon.

By “bricks”, I am referring to Cutch, Milledge, Pedro, Sanchez, etc.

It will be interesting to see what approach is taken with the bullpen. I am fairly confident (and hopeful) that we will not throw a lot of money at the bullpen, but at the same time I’m not sure that a throw a whole bunch of options at the wall and see what sticks approach makes sense if there is no going to be a more serious emphasis on winning at the big league level.

I’m curious to read what the regulars who know more about AI think about him and the apparent shift to a new stage in building the franchise.

Good day.

While I liked Chavez, he is replacable. Love to control him for a few years but what good is control if he does not perform? He could be rotten in 2010. Such is the randomness of bullpen guys.

IW looks like he will give us a major league 2B for at least next year. It will make our defense up the middle better than it was in the 2nd half of last year. Will Cedeno and IW be better than WIlson and Sanchez? Not sure the new guys will be better, but they might be as good.

Who cares about the $s? We dumped alot of salary over the last 2 years.

As for a signal, yea I think NH is now trying to form some stable base around which he can plug the youngsters as they develop. It does solve on big hole for next year at least.

Akinori means “blue-green seaweed.” May also have other, idiomatic meanings.

I’m sure everyone’s reading the P-G article on this, but NH lays it out:

“Our goal for 2010 is to be a better team,” Huntington said. “We’ve made a lot out of having years of control, and our hope is that this is more than a one-year fit for us and for Akinori. But our expectation in 2010 is to play better baseball and to win more games, and we felt like this was an opportunity for us to begin to turn the corner, to move in a positive direction not just below the major league level but at the top level, as well.”

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010654-63.stm#ixzz0VttsWTFQ

no one’s really thinking about, and might only have a marginal affect. AI was playing in what is regarded as the best division in baseball. His career numbers are based on playing against elite pitching of Beckett, Sabathia, Halliday, Papelbon, and Rivera. Not that I think our divsion is a weak division at all, though the overall records don’t reflect that, but maybe the guy puts up a better than average year for himself playing in this division. I’m not sure if there is any way to prove this, that a player can put up better numbers playing in a slightly weaker division, but it just seems like that division is like the SEC and our division is the Big East

This sets the table for a mid-2010 callup for Alvarez. Whatever reservations some have about LaRoche at 3B, we can mostly agree on his excellent glove work. Moving him to 2B would present two unknowns in the infield (2B & 3B). The Pirates pitching staff doesn’t post high K #s and their success is highly defense dependent. The 1B option for Alvarez remains viable if they choose and Jones can move to RF where he’s better suited. Or if Alvarez isn’t MLB-ready at 3B (or at all) they maintain some stability for 2010.

Agreed on the $s — I’m not into spending or saving $ for Nutting and this is an OK way to spend it for a team that’s realized major savings elsewhere. I just want to see good baseball moves. This is an upgrade over the bottom feeder approach to journeymen middle infielders NH would otherwise be forced to employ. I’m a little leary of Iwamura’s age and recent injury, but the Pirates can evaluate his health and performance before considering extending him. Give Iwamura credit for returning from a serious injury and playing pretty decently in a season where his team was out of contention.

and while I understand Chavez was one of our more dependable relievers last season, i am surprised at the number of those who do not like the deal. I think NH made 2 really good points. 1. Relief pitchers are very volatile, their performance varies more than any other position from year to year (and even more likely in this instance as Chavez’s FIP weren’t as strong as his other numbers) and 2. 600 plate appearances is more valuable than 60 innings.

Of course, all of that would be moot if Iwamura was a junk player, but he plays solid D and probably puts up a line around .350/.390. Further, considering our lack of depth in the MI, it makes more sense. And I don’t think we have even detracted from our future a little. I think Iwamura has value for at least 3 more seasons and if inked to a 2 year, reasonable extension, he could possibly help in 2011 and 2012 when maybe we have a chance to do something. And, regardless of what Iwamura does, I doubt at any point over the next half-decade we will be lamenting the fact that we would have made the post-season if only we had Jesse Chavez.

So you’re saying Aki is taki?

(BTW, God bless the Interwebs, we can have our own resident expert in Japanese baseball (or at least a knowledgable contributor).

First, a disclaimer:

a) I don’t care a whit about chavez
b) I’m not criticizing the Sanchez trade
c) I understand 2B was a black hole in the org
d) My post is solely in relation to any thought that this deal makes the bucs better in the coming season

How does Iwamura help the Pirates, in NH’s words, begin to “turn the corner”? I know that’s standard GM spin, but it rings a little hollow.

Simply put, the team was awful with Sanchez at 2B, even though he performed reasonably well for the Bucs, with numbers comparable to AI’s. Lord knows, Young sucked at 2B. So, no problem with NH making an upgrade, but my point is, it’s an upgrade only above Young. Not a noticeable upgrade (and maybe not an upgrade at all over Sanchez). The point is, any Iwamura-related improvement is likely just back to the Sanchez level, and the team was dreadful with Sanchez.

Perhaps the reports on Luigi’s 2B progress in Florida were not hopeful. Lord knows Delwyn Young couldn’t cut it. So, the Pirates got a serviceable second baseman. That’s fine. Maybe AI will have a better than average (for him) year while playing for a contract; in fact, maybe that’s what NH is hoping, so he’ll have a trade deadline chip to deal for a serviceable prospect. Or, dare to dream, AI plays himself to a Type A level and we get a sandwich pick.

just any notion that it will have a meaningful impact.

Bucs bad with sanchez; AI roughly = FS

Upgrade over young? of course. Upgrade in standings? Dubious.

If we can keep Akinori Iwamura on the field and he plays well over 120-130 starts, it will make us a better team than what we finished the year with at second base for sure.

If we can get Andy LaRoche to hit with more consistency and produce more power next season at third base, we will see some improvement with the team.

Can we get reasonable production at the plate and in the field from Ronny Cedeno?

If Pedro Alvarez comes up June/July timeframe and performs well at the plate, maybe with the above scenario working out he spends most of his time at first base.

Garrett Jones plays a lot of right field in 2010 if his bat shows up again.

Cutch in center.

Mostly Milledge in left.

Moss and Young get most of the backup ABs.

Doumit as the primary catcher til the inevitable breakdown.

I’ll believe Jose Tabata gets a lot of time in Pittsburgh next season when I’ve actually seen him there and he’s stayed healthy for an extended period of time. (And the people around him don’t get him involved in something illegal.)

I wouldn’t get too worked up about him winning 6 Gold Gloves in Japan at third base. Let’s keep in mind that he was competing against at best only 5 other guys in the Central League each year.

I did think he was a pretty good defender at the hot corner in NPB, but I think his stats in MLB the past two years at second base are more important now.

Let’s see how his knees hold up next year. He may be only 31 in February, but there’s a lot of wear and tear on his body from playing full-time in NPB and MLB from a very young age.

Some of you might not know that Iwamura hit a combined 106 HRs his last 3 seasons (2004-2006) in Japan, with 2 100+ RBI seasons.

http://japanesebaseball.com/players/player.jsp?PlayerID=993

Cubs fan coming to congratulate you guys on acquiring a player that i would have loved to see on the Cubs at 2B next year. Nice pickup.

the talk was about moving Andy LaRoche to 2nd base,and how he was fine with the idea and would do anything to help the team. Then this trade for a 31 yr-old middle inf who will be a free agent after next season? Not sure I get it. Iwamura is a solid player,when healthy,but the move kind of echoes the fuzzy-headed things the Pirates have done for so long now.
Is the thinking keep LaRoche at third,and move Alvarez to first? That would make more sense to me.

that the Pirates need to start establishing players at positions,with not so much mix-and-match all the time.

So what if Chavez develops into a consistently reliable reliever? That’s what, 1 WAR per year? That’s easily replaceable. And that’s only if he develops. Right now he’s a 26-year-old replacement-level pitcher. Any time you can get a 2-2.5 WAR player (with a cheap contract) for a replacement-level player with 1 WAR upside, I think you do it, even if it’s only for one season and even if that one season is still very likely to include 90 losses. It’s not like this means we’re “playing for this year.” It’s just a smart upgrade. I’d feel differently if Aki were going to block someone, but 2b was the one position that we don’t have an adequate young player. If LaRoche can play the 2b, Aki can slide right on over to third until Alvarez is ready. This is really a great trade for the Bucs, and the remote possibility that Chavez turns into an elite reliever at some point shouldn’t distract us from how much we upgraded with this trade.

for minimal cost we acquired a player who can fit any role 3b, ss, 2nd. he is a quality player who atleast can hit for average IMO. with the upside has a great glove, leadership and a great spirit. i say we call him tanaka after the movie guy. NO MARBLES!

My concerns are similar to Charlie’s but overall I am ok with the deal. I think that the front office may know something we don’t know. It did seem like down the stretch NL hitters caught up to his fastball. Maybe, they do not see him ever developing his secondary pitch and considering his fastball seems pretty straight it might be the right move. Iwamura is clearly a stop gap and giving up on a potential quality reliever seems dumb, but I’ll give NH the benefit of the doubt and only time will give us the answer.

Rather than ask how is that possible, we should ask why we want a reliever who is only better than horrible. We need to find actual good relievers, and Chavez isn’t likely to become that.

If it means we never ever seen Brian Bixler in a Pirates uniform again, I’m all over it.

either fold the team or kick the owner out of Pitt. What a pathetic operation.