Pittsburgh Pirates Designate Akinori Iwamura for Asignment

Update

Iwamura has cleared waivers and and will report to Triple-A Indianapolis next week. The Pirates will hope that Iwamura finds his stroke in Triple-A, so he can give them any sort of trade value in the future.

Original Post

In order to make room for super prospect Pedro Alvarez, the Pittsburgh Pirates have designated second baseman Akinori Iwamura for assignment. The Pirates will now look to trade Iwamura.

I am really surprised Iwamura didn’t work out in Pittsburgh. At the time of the trade, I thought it was a good move by the Pirates to acquire Iwamura from the Tampa Bay Rays. I thought Iwamura would help the Pirates defensively and provide a solid bat the top of their lineup.

However, it really appears that Iwamura hasn’t fulled recovered from the knee surgery he had last season. Since his knee surgery, Iwamura’s UZR at second base has gone from 2.8 to -4.1 to -7.9 in 2010. Really not good if you are supposed to be a defensive-minded second baseman.

Offensively, Iwamura has been just as bad for the Pirates in 2010. In 165 ABs, Iwamura hit just .182 with a .292 OBP. Due to Iwamura’s lack of defense and offense, he lost his job to former first round pick Neil Walker.

Believe it or not, Iwamura was the highest paid player in the Pirates with a salary of $4.85 million in 2010. Three-fourths of the New York Yankees’ infield make that in a week.

If Iwamura does land with another club, I would say it would be either the Minnesota Twins, a return to Tampa, or the New York Mets.

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