and Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Damaso Marte, Nate McLouth, Jack Wilson, Adam LaRoche and Eric Hinske, then the Pirates would have been celebrating tonight instead of the Yankees.

Interesting results. I know everyone here respects Freddy Sanchez as a selfless team player, but this fan base is not shedding any emotional tears over him moving on.

I like how it played out.

I’d have rather the team made a serious effort to try Andy LaRoche at second, because I think there’s still potential there (maybe not blue-chip like was once thought, but certainly more room for growth than Iwamura). That said, you can’t take for granted that he could have played the position. We know Aki can.

That said, the poll options are being approached as if they were mutually exclusive.

What’s to say, for example, that the Pirates don’t plan on platooning LaRoche and Iwamura? Iwamura is actually better against lefties than righties despite being a lefty himself, but it’s by a marginal amount. Meanwhile, LaRoche’s splits from 2009 (not sure I want to use his full career just yet…I have an issue with taking scattered plate appearances as definitive) show him as a pretty strong lefty-masher.

The above scenario would give the team a chance to try LaRoche at second without going with a LaRoche or bust approach. If he plays well against lefties, great. Ship Iwamura at the deadline and make LaRoche the everyday 2B. If he can’t play the position, extend Aki…both sides have said they’re open to it, after all.