Pirates acquired second baseman Akinori Iwamura from the Rays for RHP Jesse Chavez.
There was a report that a second player would go from Tampa Bay to Pittsburgh, but it turned out to a straight-up deal. The Pirates will pick up Iwamura's $4.85 million option for 2010 and get themselves a nice one-year stopgap at second base, albeit at a pretty significant cost. He'll likely hit second in their lineup behind Andrew McCutchen. The Rays, meanwhile, can go with Ben Zobrist as a full-time second baseman now. |