Pirates acquire Sean Rodriguez, designate Gaby Sanchez

The Pirates have announced that they've acquired Sean Rodriguez from the Rays for a player to be named later or cash. They've also designated Gaby Sanchez for assignment.

The Rays designated Rodriguez for assignment last week. He's right-handed and can play first, second, third or the outfield and grades as a decent defender at any of those. He used to play shortstop but has done that less in recent years. He hit .211/.258/.443 last season. The batting average should come up a bit next year, but the power numbers should come down -- his 12 home runs in part-time duty last season represented a career high, although he did hit a ton of home runs years ago in the minors. He's projected to make $2 million in 2015 in his last season before free agency eligibility.

Sanchez would have gotten a raise to around $2.7 million next season, and given his poor play in 2014 and his age, he wasn't worth that. Designating him for assignment now means there's no longer any question about whether the Pirates will tender him, so this move takes most of the drama out of the non-tender deadline tomorrow night.

Rodriguez will almost certainly take a spot on the Pirates' bench. They listed him as an infielder, so they're probably thinking of him for their usual second infield spot, with Justin Sellers, Pedro Florimon or Jake Elmore currently slated to take the other -- think of Rodriguez as doing what Josh Harrison did before he got good.

Chris Stewart and Travis Snider will likely take two of the other bench spots, which leaves one more for a right-handed first baseman to platoon with Pedro Alvarez. The Pirates could also have Rodriguez in that role, and maybe there's a case for that based on his fielding, but they should be able to get someone who provides a bit more offensively.