Rays and Pirates finalized a deal involving Akinori Iwamura. Pirates send Jess Chaves (Rel) in return they get Iwamura (2B) a speedy lead off man who plays great defense and hits for average. Wow, Dayton you could have upgraded 2B for a reliever and you didn't do it? It's gonna be a looong Winter folks.

Your my boy blue!!

Also, what do you guys/gals think about Felix Pie. Is he worth taking a chance on if we can get him at a low pirce? He's fast, gold glove D, steal bases, however his hitting over the past 2 years has been mediocre at best. Personally, I'd rather have a talented youngster who's cheap, than a 30'sh CF with two bad shoulders and no arm strength, and who wants 8mil. My vote is for Pie!

What do you guys think?

What reliever could he have traded?

I'm not a huge fan of Pie (his medicore plate discipline makes me doubt that he'll ever be able to hit for a good enough average, or walk enough, to really reach his potential), but I'd far prefer him to Crisp when you factor in money and Crisp's injury. He's probably also an improvement over Maier - younger, faster, more upside potential, a little more power.

BTW, I agree with cowhide about what we could have given up to get Iwamura. We don't know if Moore tried, or if the Rays were even interested in anything we might have had to offer.
EDIT: BTW, I have a feeling the bigger issue was Iwamura's $4.25M option for next year, and the fact that he would be pretty much a one year rental for that amount. The reliever the Pirates gave up wasn't much.

And don't forget that Iwamura is now playing on a repaired knee. The Pirates will do what the Pirates do with Iwamura. They'll keep him until July, hoping he stays healthy, then flip him for "prospects."

I'd just as soon stick with Maier in center as take a flyer on Pie. But I do note that the first of what may be several "What about Felix Pie?" posts has already been filed. We seem to discuss him ever year, and it appears that fewer and fewer people get excited about him.

Akinori Iwamura would have benefited the Royals very little if at all. Believe it or not, Callaspo makes up with his bat the difference in their defense.

Felix Pie is an interesting idea especially when considering the August numbers he put up… 5 home runs and a 1.045 OPS! The real question is what would the Orioles want in return? Baltimore has the outfield flexibility to move him with Reimold and Jones in center and left, but they just lost Jeff Fiorentino so they may prefer to hold on to Pie as a 4th outfielder.

I think giving Jeff Fiorentino a look would be a nice low risk move, he will be 27 this coming April, has better plate discipline than Pie and he would only cost a contract because he is now a free agent. It is a chance to buy low and get a possible centerfielder for relatively cheap.

"Akinori Iwamura would have benefited the Royals very little if at all. Believe it or not, Callaspo makes up with his bat the difference in their defense. "

Huh? There isn't much difference in them offensively. Callaspo may privide a bit more in the SLG dept, but as far as AVG and OBP, they are very similar. Other than a bit more power, the only advantage I can see that Callaspo has over Iwamura is age. I would take the defensive improvement over any offensive difference there is in a heartbeat.

I was shocked as well, the difference between Callaspo’s 2009 and Akinori Iwamura 2008 was large which I expected, but Callaspo made up for it with his bat. FanGraphs valued Iwamura’s 2008 performance at 2.6 Wins Above Replacement and valued his season at $11.8 million and Callaspo was 2.7 Wins Above Replacement, valued at $12.4 million.

Once you figure in their salaries Callaspo becomes even more valuable. Obviously we are not going to acquire Iwamura at this point, but looking at their respective value we would not have been upgrading the position as much as some would think… if at all.

After saying that, I think we should shop Callaspo this off-season because I do not think we can honestly expect much defensive improvement from him in 2010. Perhaps we can convince a team in need of a second baseman of Callaspo’s value and get a return on him. I would be fine with a young reliever, but we will be in a better trading position than the Rays were.

I wasn't saying I'm shocked - I'm saying I don't agree. By all accounts - Iwamura plays very solid defense. Callaspo plays terrible defense. They are relatively similar offensively.

I would also try very hard to trade Callaspo - hoping you can find a team that has the benefit of being able to 'hide' his defense within a team of solid defenders - something the Royals can't do. If I can't trade him - I use him as a part time DH, part time backup 2B. I platoon him and Guillen at DH - both getting occassional time in the field ( unless Kila earns his way onto the team in ST).

Aren't the Royals a team in need of a second baseman for next season?

At 27 there is little reason to believe he is capable of improving his range significantly, but the elimination of the (it almost seemed daily) mental errors would go a long way toward him being a much improved defender.

Going back a couple of post, I am curious how others feel about Jeff Fiorentino. He is a year younger than Mitch Maier, has shown more power, stolen base capability and better contact rate.

I am sure that would depend on who you ask. Despite Callaspo’s defensive deficiencies at second there are far more glaring needs across the roster.

I can't say that I know much about him other than what I can look up. He's had a little success in his limited exposure at the ML level. He got passed around a bit prior to last season. There have been three teams that have basically passed on him so far after getting a look at him - which is a little concerning.

He doesn't strike out a ton, so that's good. He seems to be a guy in the Teahean/DDJ/Maier mold of contributing a bit across the board, but not really being that good at too much. From what I've read, he seems to be at least an average OF - able to play all three spots.

Probably my biggest issue with him is that he's apparently another LH hitter that can't hit LH pitching well at all. And from what I understand, his funky swing makes it just about impossible for him to make and adjustments to resolve it (Although looking at his split stats at both the ML and minor league level this past season - he actually did very well against LH hitting - so maybe he had indeed figured something out).

Having said all that - I agree - he sounds like another Mitch Maier - and having another one of those around that may get better and may be able to at least platoon at the ML level is never a bad idea.

Fiorentino might be an intersting pickup - if he is cheap. His offense is better than Maier's overall (although I don't agree that his SB capability or contact rate are better than Maier's - at least not if you look at minor league numbers rather than their small ML sample sizes). I don't know a lot about his D, but if it's generally regarded as good, he'd be worth looking at. At least he seems to have the plate discipline part down, and with the extra year, that might make a big difference in how the two progress at the ML level from here on out.

There is nothing more glaring than bad infield defense.

And I will repeat once again: If offense can make up for bad defense, Albert Pujols would still be a shortstop.

I'm not sure that's a good analogy considering how good he has become at 1B.

But, I certainly agree that bad infield D is the death of any team.

It's not a good analogy, and it's a fallacy as well.

But only if it is someone else making such a ridiculous argument would it be a problem.

"But, I certainly agree that bad infield D is the death of any team."

Which is why he is a first baseman instead of a shortstop, which was the position he played when he was drafted. Heck, they even tried him out at third and left field, and still moved him.

The point is, even if Callaspo put up Albert Pujols offensive numbers, he'd still be a horrible second baseman.

IMO, there is a certain point where a player's defense at a position is simply unacceptable, no matter his offense - like with Pujols at short. Whether Callaspo's defense at 2B is THAT bad, based on his bat, is debateable. But I'll admit it's closer than I'm comfotable with. There's also a point where a player's defense would be acceptable if his offense was enough to offset it (say Dan Uggla). On this scale, Callaspo has a tougher time - he isn't Pujols or Uggla with the bat, and he isn't far off either with the glove. Let's just say that given the Royals' awful overall defense, I'd much prefer a player who was a "wash" with Callaspo overall, but gave more on the defensive side of the equation.

BTW, there's also a point where a player's offense is so bad that it's unacceptable regardless of how good he is defensively. Think TPJ and Rey Ordonez (although Ordonez got 3400 ML at bats out of his defense - ouch). Of course, catchers and shortstops get a lot more leeway in this regard, just like 1B and corner OFs who are brutal defensively, but can hit, do.

You also got to factor in the guy he's sharing the middle with. Uggla becomes more acceptable because of Ramirez. Tommy Herr was a prefectly good second baseman for the Cardinals as long as Ozzie Smith was around. The Indians surved with Baerga at second while they had Vizquel at short.

The combination of Callaspo and Betancourt should give us all nightmares.