Tampa Bay Rays trade 2B Akinori Iwamura to Pittsburgh
 |
Bill Jempty | Wednesday, November 4, 2009 |
The trade saves the Rays from having to pay a $650,000 on Iwamura’s contract if they didn’t pick up his option.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have been plugging holes after trades for years, but filling the Freddy Sanchez void proved difficult.
On Tuesday, the team agreed to acquire second baseman Akinori Iwamura from the Tampa Bay Rays for reliever Jesse Chavez.
*****
Iwamura was batting over .300 early last season for the Rays before sustaining partial tears of the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee. He returned in September and batted .290 for the season in 69 games. He was Tampa’s everyday second baseman when the Rays went to the World Series in 2008 and batted .274 with six homers, 48 RBIs and a .349 on-base percentage.
*****
Chavez led Pittsburgh and all major league rookies with 73 appearances in 2009, going 1-4 with a 4.01 ERA in 67 1/3 innings. He was taken in the 42nd round in 2002 by Texas, and made his major league debut with the Pirates with 15 appearances in 2008.
The Rays think they have 2nd base plugged with Ben Zobrist. Maybe they do, but the team got shockingly little compensation for Iwamura. A run of the mill reliever was the best Tampa could do?
- Tampa Rays 2B Akinori Iwamura out for the year with a knee injury
- Devil Rays Get Bargain in Iwamura
- Rays Making Moves Before Deadline
- Pirates get LaRoche from Braves
- Back injury may end Oakland Athletic 3rd baseman Eric Chavez’s career
- Tampa Bay Rays sign Troy Percival
- Rays acquire INF Harris from Reds
- Former MLB Infielder and Manager George Strickland dead at 84
- GM won’t renew sponsorship of Pittsburgh Pirates
- Tampa Bay 1B Carlos Pena out for the season with two broken fingers
- 2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament 2nd round- March 20th
- Horse racing wager pays $4.94M in Puerto Rico
- Washington Nationals send Stephen Strasburg to AA Ball
- Arizona Cardinals sign LB Joey Porter
- 2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament- March 19th
- Nevada Wolfpack golf team put on probation
- Throwing in the towel- Phoenix beats Florida 4-3
- New York Mets and Florida Marlins to play 3 games in Puerto Rico
- 2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament- March 18th
- Seattle Seahawks acquire QB Charlie Whitehurst
Comments are Closed
