Akinori Iwamura isn't going to make the Pirates a winning baseball team.
He's a nice player and a viable starting second baseman, provided he is healthy. His bat plays well at the position—his .354 career on-base percentage is actually significantly better than Freddy Sanchez', although he does not have as much gap power—and he has an average glove for a second baseman.
But he's not exactly a world-beater. He's 30 years old and coming off ACL surgery, and he has never hit more than seven home runs or driven in 50 runs in a season. Plus he's only under contract for one more year. The Pirates shouldn't trade for players like this when they have to give up younger players whose rights they control.
This, at least, has been the common rationale cited by those who oppose the trade. But what exactly did the Pirates give up?
Jesse Chavez was one of Pittsburgh's better relief pitchers last year, but he is a dime a dozen in the major leagues. He is no better than Matt Capps, or Evan Meek, or likely Victor Black (the Pirates' sandwich-round selection in the 2009 Entry Draft).
Chavez was important to a Pirate team that lost Meek to injury in the middle of 2009. Obviously, Meek's strong return from injury is not guaranteed, so it is true that Chavez provides value in the form of 2010 bullpen depth. But bullpen depth is not something the Pirates can or should actively speak.
In 2010, when Iwamura will definitely be a Pirate, a decent second baseman who can hit in the No. 2 hole behind Andrew McCutchen is a much bigger priority than bullpen depth. In 2011 and beyond, a future in which Iwamura will not necessarily take part, the Pirates don't intend to need Chavez anyway.
This is by no means a groundbreaking deal. It is a marginal upgrade, one that could help Pittsburgh's pitchers sustain confidence with more sound defense behind them and that could help McCutchen develop the belief that, if he hits a lead-off double, the batter behind him will actually move him over to third.
But the marginal upgrade was readily available; the Tampa Bay Rays were actively shopping Iwamura, whose starting position had been taken over by Ben Zobrist. The Pirates took advantage of Tampa's need to make a deal, and all they had to part with was Jesse Chavez.
Will Iwamura make them a winner? No. But that's not a reason to stray from making a sound baseball move.
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