Pirates - Acquired Iwamura

Pittsburgh Pirates - Acquired 2B Akinori Iwamura from the Tampa Bay Rays for P Jesse Chavez A nifty little pickup for the Pirates here. Iwamura is a solid second baseman and fills a pretty big hole for the Pirates in return for a decent, but replaceable reliever. I think the Rays were a little too quick to trade Iwamura, but on the other hand, Japanese players have some decent leverage because of the possibility of going back to Japan and Aki may not have wanted to wait too long to see the Rays sort out the 2B surplus. Chavez is a useful reliever, as noted, but I'm not sure he'll be one of the best 7 relievers on the team come April. He does have a good fastball, so he's worth taking a flier one, but he still throws too many meatballs. 2010 ZiPS Projections ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Player AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG OPS+ -------------------------------------------------------...