Report: Tampa Bay Rays Deal Akinori Iwamura To Pittsburgh Pirates

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Reports out of Tampa late Tuesday afternoon are that the Rays have dealt second baseman Akinori Iwamura to the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is believed that the Rays will receive reliever Jesse Chavez in return, but the full details of the deal have not yet been released.

Iwamura was hurt early in 2009 and lost his job to surprising All-Star Ben Zobrist. The Rays had been rumored to be shopping Iwamura to a number of teams, including a deal that would have sent him to the Chicago Cubs with Pat Burrell in exchange for Milton Bradley.

After dealing Freddy Sanchez to San Francisco this summer, the Pirates struggled to replace him in their middle infield.

Iwamura could potentially partner with Ronny Cedeno in the middle of the Bucs infield in 2010.

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