PIRATES TRADE FOR IWAMURA

The Pirates made somewhat of a splash today, trading pitcher Jesse Chavez to the Tampa Bay Rays for 2B Akinori Iwamura. Iwamura, who hit .290/.355/.390 last season, is signed through 2010 and is due to make $4.85 million next year. He suffered a partially torn ACL on May 22 last season but was back in the lineup by August 29.The 30-year-old Iwamura doesn't seem to fit the Neal Huntington philosophy of cheap, controllable labor, but he brings good value to the table and will probably be looked at as trade bait when the Pirates eventually fall out of the race. The Buccos had a gaping hole at second after dealing Freddy Sanchez to San Francisco last season, and it appears that Delwyn Young is not the long-term answer after hitting .266 with seven HR, 43 RBI, and 90 strikeouts in 354 at-bats. And the Rays had little need for Iwamura after the emergence of Ben Zobrist in Iwamura's absence last year. So this could be the rare win-win situation, at least from the early returns.Iwam...