Rays Send Aki Iwamura to Pirates for Random Prospect

by royalsreview on Nov 3, 2009 6:12 PM EST Comment 15 comments

Initially I really liked this deal for the Pirates, who during this season earned the benefit of the doubt in my mind. After learning that Iwamura was only under contract through 2010 however, I was less excited. As often gets said with deals like this, "well, the Pirates will probably trade him later," however, as Royals fans, we know that sometimes that doesn't happen.

Looks like Charlie at Bucs Dugout picked a bad day to get sick.

What's your take? (Relevant links after the jump.)

Cameron at Fangraphs takes a sorta anti-stathead position on this trade:

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. There is a financial cost to losing that is magnified when teams are uniformly awful, and that cost can inhibit a team’s growth potential in the long run. 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.

[...]

The key is to be smart about what kinds of investments you make. Russ Branyan’s signing by the Mariners last year is a perfect example of the kind of short-term, low-cost, quality acquisition that rebuilding teams should be looking to make. What the Royals did in throwing money at Kyle Farnsworth, Mike Jacobs, and Willie Bloomquist is an example of this kind of thinking gone badly wrong.

Here's two more:

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Interesting trade

The Rays were in a tough spot as Iwamura’s contract required the Rays to exercise the option the day after World Series ended, and with the team’s financial problems, they could not risk exercising the option in order to wait for a better deal. I wonder if the Freddie Sanchez signing triggered this deal, as the Giants were reportedly in Iwamura too.

Pittsburgh essentially gets him for free plus the cost of his 2010 salary ($4.25 million), and with Iwamura around a 2.0 to 2.5 WAR player when healthy, it is a nice little bargain. Unlike the Royals, the Pirates have already cashed in most of their veterans for younger players and had no real in-house candidates to play 2B, so it makes more sense for the Pirates to acquire a one-year stopgap to stabilize the major league roster.

by Gopherballs on Nov 3, 2009 7:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Kinda agree with Dave

Don’t know if I’ll do a post on this or not. I did the calcs — Iwamura’s pretty much the definition of a league-average player, maybe a bit better when you consider he was in the AL. I’m not sure how good the guy they traded is, exactly, but he doesn’t seem like much. Iwamura’s probably worth at least $8M on the open market.

So they didn’t give up much, get a good deal financially, and given the (stupid but real) media backlash against the Wilson and Sanchez trades, maybe this wins them a bit of goodwill, prevents them from playing a replacement-level guy at 2B, and,heck, if Freddy Sanchez gets hurt, ,maybe they can trade him to the Giants for Madison Bumgarner at the deadline next season.

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at Driveline Mechanics.

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by devil_fingers on Nov 3, 2009 7:02 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

from reading at

draysbay.com i have gleaned that the reliever is a fairly average guy with a hard fastball and a good changeup, whose FIP has ranged from the low 4’s to the low 5’s in three or four seasons. their take is that the Rays must think he has upside, maybe if the 95-ish fastball can be developed (it’s been too straight a la Farnsworthless in the past)

Blank

by benfunke on Nov 4, 2009 12:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Chavez is mildly interesting

Per Fangrapths, he has only pitched two seasons in the majors (4.53 FIP in 2008, 4.85 FIP in 2009, 4.79 FIP overall). He has maintained a solid K/BB rate (6.89 K/9 v. 3.39 BB/9 overall), but home runs have killed him (1.42 HR/9). His 12.6% HR/FB has been a little unlucky, but as a flyball pitcher (only 39.6% GB%), homers will be a problem.

His pitch values show success with both his change and slider, while his 94 MPH fastball gets clobbered. The nice part about having a good change is that it allows him to pitch effectively against left-handed batters.

The fact that the Rays were in a corner allowed the Pirates to get him at bake sale prices, but the Rays at least received something potentially useful and cheap, which is a decent return under the circumstances.

by Gopherballs on Nov 4, 2009 12:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

one HR

Got him in an Apple commercial and I believe the same pitch/HR was used in a video game commercial. My impression of him from my NL Central perch was that he is pretty consistent and was a bit over-used. He did pitch for a team that played a lot against Pujols, Ludwick, Braun, Fielder, Carlos Lee, Soriano and some others. Of course now he gets the AL East.

by Salty on Nov 4, 2009 1:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

pretty much their entire bullpen was built on guys taken off of the scrap heap or by trading spare parts...

this is just another one of those moves…..and if it doesnt work out, they’ve saved themselves 750k on the aki buyout

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Nov 4, 2009 2:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

was Cameron saying bad things about the Royals?

boy, that burns me!

"Things could always be worse." - Buddy Bell

by buddyball on Nov 3, 2009 8:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I heard from a birdie that FanGraphs might be going heavy with their anti-Royal campaign soon.

Jeff Zimmerman - Protecting the world from RBI's and Wins from my mom's guest house.

by Jeff Zimmerman (TucsonRoyal) on Nov 3, 2009 10:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i hope they dont ever plan on visiting kauffman

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Nov 3, 2009 10:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Uh-oh.

We’re already losing the war over Grass Creek. I don’t think Dayton & Trey can handle another battlefront.

by hunter s. royal on Nov 3, 2009 10:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm sure

they will have something new and interesting to add to the discussion

"He once had an awkward moment, just to see how it felt...he lives vicariously...through himself- He is the most interesting man in the world"

by Home Run Tony Cogan on Nov 4, 2009 10:04 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Watching a small market team

make good moves is beginning to have a pornographic effect on me. I can only fantasize about the royals making a move like this.

Pecota, watch over us.

by castille on Nov 4, 2009 10:30 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Decent move by Pittsburgh

Not a screaming headline acquisition or nothing – but actually is the exact kind of value move that Moore should have been looking for when deciding to blow 4 million a year on Farnsworth, for example.

Too bad his roster management has hamstrung the budget SO badly, that a move like this is almost out of our potential financially right now.

Sigh.

Mr Glass, this is a pro sports team, not a retail store - run it like one!

by loyal2sdad on Nov 4, 2009 1:15 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Good deal for both

Pittsburgh gets a decent 2B at a decent price they can easily afford, and maybe they spin him into something else, or get FA compensation for him. Tampa Bay had to get rid of his salary and weren’t going to play him, so to get anything for him rather than let him walk was a plus.

Rare win-win trade.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Nov 5, 2009 10:51 AM EST reply actions 0 recs