Akinori Iwamura

The Pirates have a boatload of questions going into 2010 - Jeff Clement, a retooled bullpen, shortstop, Lastings Milledge/Garrett Jones as difference makers - but so far, second baseman Akinori Iwamura has evaded the microscope.

His pedigree is solid. Iwamura, a convert from the hot corner, has become a dependable middle infielder and sports a career .281 batting average and .354 OBP, certainly bona-fides strong enough to replace a banged-up Freddy Sanchez at second (.299/.334).

But as Jen Langosch of MLB.com reports, he is less than a year removed from ACL surgery, and plans to wear a brace during the season.

Is that reason for concern? Well, yes and no. Certainly wearing a brace doesn't mean that he's not healing. From the reports we've seen, he's participating in all the drills at Bradenton and showing no ill effects from his knifework.

But the Pirates have put all their eggs in his basket. There's already been talk about punching up the Bucco attack at some point by leading off with Iwamura, batting Andy LaRoche behind him (he did hit .289 from that spot in 2009, although his OBP was a pretty measly .319) and dropping Andrew McCutchen to third.

Additionally, he's a linchpin for the infield. Iwamura is the only infield guy that doesn't have a Plan B; his backups are Bobby Crosby and Ramon Vazquez. Even LaRoche has the shadow of Pedro Alvarez looming large over him.

So he's quietly become an integral part of the Pirates moving forward in 2010. And there's one question concerning Iwamura; can the Pirates get 145-150 games out of his knee?

If the answer is positive, the Pirates are a better team, and may ink him for another season or two while their young infield prospects dry off behind the ears. If not...well, remember the black hole that second base became after Steady Freddy left, both in the field and the lineup card?

Blowback

While Bucco fans debate the Aki Iwamura deal, here's what the world outside of Pittsburgh thinks of the trade:

-- Andrew Friedman, Rays VP of baseball operations from the Tampa Bay website:

"'Once it was clear to us that we were not going to pick up his (Iwamura's) option, we went out and tried to find a match. And Pittsburgh has been all over us for about a month now about him and really liked him. They felt like he was a good fit for them and they're getting a really good player.'

'Jesse's a guy who spent all year in the big leagues with the Pirates and has great arm strength. He's got some swing-and-miss stuff. And now it's about trying to harness it and have it play that way at the Major League level.

'He had success this year, but his ability is even greater in terms of his stuff. And sometimes guys take a little bit longer to mature, and we feel like he's got a real upside and has a chance to be a really good reliever.'"

-- Dave Cameron of Fan Graphs:

"Aki Iwamura is not going to lead the Pirates to the playoffs, but he’s also a potentially useful player who will improve the 2009 club without harming the development of any significant pieces. There is value in these kinds of transactions.

While rebuilding teams have to look towards the future, they also have to avoid the death spiral that can occur when a small revenue team fails to put a good product on the field, drives away the fan base, and in the process lowers future revenues. Developing a fan base is in many ways like developing a farm system – it requires a present term investment that theoretically returns greater future value."

--SFiercex4 from Beyond the Boxscore:

"When taken in a vacuum, the Pirates clearly came out a winner. Pittsburgh gets to fill a gaping hole at second base with a player who is more than capable of performing at or above league average level. The Pirates should be quite happy to have Iwamura on their team to replace Delwyn Young at second base.

The Rays appear to have gotten very little in return for Iwamura, but this was to be expected. They had a logjam in the infield and Iwamura's $4.85M option was unlikely to be picked up. In order to salvage some value from him instead of paying his buyout and receiving nothing, the Rays turned the $500K they would have paid to have Iwamura leave and instead received an arbitration-controlled arm that could presumably be plugged into their bullpen at a slight discount.

The Rays had little to no leverage and came out with another player on their roster who will make very little and the difference between the buyout and the rookie salary. It cannot be considered a win, but the Rays simply cannot be blamed. Call it a win-neutral, if you will."

-- Matthew Pouliot of NBC Sports:

"Iwamura is worth the cash. In three years since arriving in the U.S., he's hit .281/.354/.393 in 1349 at-bats. Iwamura has proven to be well above average at second base, and should be an upgrade over what Freddy Sanchez gave them defensively and approximately his equal offensively.

Still, one wonders if this is really the right direction for the Pirates. Second base tends to be a very easy position to fill in the offseason. Had Iwamura become a free agent, it's unlikely that he would have received a higher salary than the option called for. $8 million over two years seemed the most likely scenario.

Last year, the teams that tried to get a jump on the market usually ended up getting burned. The same could happen this winter."

-- Matt Eddy of Baseball America:

"The Pirates and Rays kicked off the 2009 offseason trading period with a minor exchange. Tampa Bay sent veteran Japanese import Akinori Iwamura, the second baseman for the franchise's '08 pennant winner, to Pittsburgh for righthanded reliever Jesse Chavez, who made a club-leading 73 appearances in '09, his first full season in the big leagues.

Pittsburgh may be just a stopover for Iwamura on his way to another organization in need of a veteran who can play second or third base and bat at the top of the order."

-- RJ Anderson of DRaysBay blog:

"Baseball knew the Rays were in a difficult position with Akinori Iwamura. There was no way he was returning for that salary and draft compensation was not an option, so the Rays' hands were tied. Chavez has the chance to turn into a nice piece for the 2010 bullpen. In a vacuum, this deal favors the Pirates."

-- Jim Breen of the Bernie's Crew Brewers' blog:

"Nice pick-up for the Pirates. The only downside to the move was that the Rays were likely to non-tender Iwamura later in the offseason. The Pirates, however, would not have been guaranteed his services for the 2010 season."

And hey, we had to throw one Pittsburgh voice in to sum it all up, Wilbur Miller of Pirate Player Profiles:

"In Japan he (Iwamura) was a power hitter, with as many as 44 HRs in a season. Like other Japanese hitters, though, he became more of an on-base guy in the US, with mainly gap power. It's possible, as a left-handed hitter, he could add power thanks to PNC Park's short RF porch, but his tendency has been to hit the ball to the opposite field when he hits it in the air. He also could benefit by moving from the much stronger AL East to the NL.

For the Pirates, he'll be a huge upgrade at second, which became a gaping hole after Freddy Sanchez' departure. His acquisition also should end any talk about Andy LaRoche moving from third. (It probably will not put an end to the knee-jerk insistence in some quarters that every single move the Pirates make is a cost-cutting measure.) It remains to be seen whether there's any chance of Iwamura staying in Pittsburgh beyond 2010."

And Your Newest Bucco...

Well, the Bucs did do something to help the MLB squad today, and it even cost Bob Nutting a buck, killing two fan beefs with one deal.

The Pirates acquired 2B/3B Akinori Iwamura from the Rays in exchange for RHP Jesse Chavez. He fills a serious need for the team, not only at second but in the two-hole of the batting order. Iwamura is steady both in the field and at the dish.

Tampa Bay had bullpen issues throughout the 2009 season and wanted a reliever in return. Dumping his $4.85M 2010 option (a fair deal, it seems; Fangraphs values his 2009 performance as worth $5.7M) on the Bucs also fills a Tampa quest to unload payroll, especially as Ben Zobrist (.297, 27 homers, 97 RBI) came on strong in his absence.

Aki did have a rough 2009. On May 22, Iwamura was injured while attempting to turn a double play against the Florida Marlins. He underwent surgery exactly one month later, and it was discovered that the ACL was partially torn and not entirely detached, so he got a scope instead of the knife.

He returned to the Rays' starting lineup on August 29th, and for the year hit .290 in 69 games, .310 in the 44 games after his surgery.

Iwamura, 30, a six-time Japanese League Gold Glove and five-time All-Star, has batted .281 with 103 RBIs and 192 runs in 344 career games with the Rays. He played the hot corner during his first year before converting to second base in 2008, thanks to Evan Longeria's emergence.

He's versatile to a fault. When he reported to the Rays in 2007, he brought five different gloves with him until he finally earned a position.

Aki has some interesting quirks. His glove is made out of crocodile skin, and his Nike bat also has quite a unique design, with a flattish barrel. It was odd enough that in 2007, Yankee skipper Joe Torre challenged it, and the umps confiscated the stick and shipped it to the Commissioner's office.

The MLB's mad scientists found the lumber to be OK for use, and it was returned to Iwamura with Joe Torre's signature. Nice touch, no?

Midway through the 2008 season, Iwamura got a mohawk, a style which soon spread to many of his teammates and Rays' manager Joe Maddon. As the team went on to become AL champs, many Tampa Bay also sported the "Rayhawk." Hey, gotta love the guy, right?

So the Pirates get a second baseman to replace Freddie Sanchez for a million beans less, and he's a bit of a character to boot.

They gave up a promising pitcher in Chavez, but his late-season flameout probably raised a red flag for the suits, and with Evan Meek and Joel Hanrahan ahead of him, three was a crowd.

With Matt Capps' status up in the air, it was a risk for the back end of the bullpen, but it seems that Steve Jackson earned the team's confidence in the seventh inning, and the move opens space for both Jeff Karstens and Kevin Hart to work with the relief corps.

Tampa Bay does have an eye for young talent, and they obviously liked Chavez. But whenever you can move a non-closing reliever for an everyday player, it makes sense. Plus the Rays were under the gun; his option had to be exercised a day after the World Series, so they got a player and saved his $650K buyout by a hair.

The downside is that Iwamura is only signed for 2010, then he becomes a free agent. We don't know yet what he thinks about the deal since he's home in Japan, but he has the look of a rent-a-player right now.

Still, it certainly helps Pittsburgh competitively in 2010, and gives them a year's breathing room to groom a second baseman or try to sign him to a longer deal.