Rays Deal Iwamura To Pirates For Chavez

I see this guy ending up playing for one of the teams in Chicago. He's a good fit for both of them.

If a deal happens, I predict that the Ms are involved.
I'd speculate...David Aardsma maybe?

If this one doesn't get GM shot down here in a few hours and it's not the Cubs or Dodgers...

I'll call the Twins on this one. They need a 3B, a 2B, a #2 hitter, AND value defense while having bulpen depth to trade from. It just makes too much sense.

Whoever gets him is getting a good player at a decent price. The Twins to make a ton of sense.

"I see this guy ending up playing for one of the teams in Chicago. He's a good fit for both of them."

Did'nt this article just read that the Cubs were NOT in the running?? I would agree that The Twins makes sense but at what price?

this has the twins written all over it

twins please? it would be a good start to the offseason knowing that bill smith is gonna be active. If we can get iwamura at 2B and sign a good 3b (hopefully beltre) Our infield would be set. With strong fielders at 3B and SS in punto we can handle the mediocre defense of iwamura.

It has to be the twins. they dumped Buscher from the roster today.

Wasnt Iwamura a third baseman before Longoria? After Longoria came they asked him to move to second base.

How great would that consistant .350 OBP look in the dismal #2 spot for the Twins; with it stashed away at a premium defensive position under a reasonable one year contract to boot.

If it is the Twins, bravo Mr. Smith.

He is a natural 2b who was moved to 3b because the Rays had a flux of 2b and Longoria wasnt around yet.

Bbxxj, don't applaud Smith until:

1. We're certain it's Minnesota.

2. We see what he gave up. Knowing Smith, he'd probably give up Aaron Hicks for one year of Iwamura or something.

I refuse to give Smith credit for any move until I know all angles of it.

I thought the Rauch acquisition was pretty good until they announced that the PTBNL was Kevin Mulvey. Rauch was more or less a salary dump and we gave them someone who actually has upside and ranked in our Top 10 prospects. =\

Knowing Bill Smith its Dustin Matin or something for him.

Better question is if we do sign mauer to a long contract, do you deal Wilson Ramos? you could REALLY get alot back of him...

Dustin Martin, even =/

Yeah, I think that most signs point towards the Twins, they have the very obvious need and he fits their payroll.

He could man second or third base depending on whether someone like Valencia or Casilla emerges as an everyday piece there, and he would give the team a solid TOR hitter, something that they could use in front of Mauer, Morneau, Kubel and Cuddyer.

MorneauVP; Mulvey was awful in his brief ML stint and was knocked way below the other AAA starters in terms of pecking order (very expendable piece), and Rauch was NOT a salary dump. He was dominant for the Twins, (5-1, 1.72 ERA) and they have him for next year too.

It will be a player like Manship that gets moved, at worse it will be someone like Plouffe.

Only problem with Iwamura is how lefty-happy the top of our lineup becomes, but oh well. Mauer, Span, and Morneau all handle LHPs just fine anyway. Only Kubel really struggles with them, and he actually showed a lot of improvement in his first year of not being platooned.

Span
Iwamura
Mauer
Morneau
Cuddyer
Kubel
Valencia/Glaus(?)
Young
Punto

Wishful thinking on Glaus, but another low-risk, high-reward Crede style signing would be nice. Save budget and potentially make a big impact. If it doesn't work, give Valencia his shot.

Lol MorneauVP. Same thoughts, and yes ive been butchering morneaus name, just woke up lol.

I only said the order i did because Gardy is know for trying to go L, R, L, R...

Rauch may have excelled for the Twins, but the D'Backs moved him looking to save some money because they didn't want to pay him $2.9MM in 2010.

Mulvey got knocked around, sure, but so do most young starters in their first stint. Baker, Blackburn, Slowey... all shelled initially.

Mulvey still has upside and was too much to give up based on the D'Backs motives for moving Rauch.

If the twins rumor is true then we can guess that the deal is for someone off the twins 40man

"Did'nt this article just read that the Cubs were NOT in the running?? I would agree that The Twins makes sense but at what price?"

Posted by: TheKid19 | November 03, 2009 at 01:02 PM

Actually, when I posted it did not say that. But thanks for inquiring.

Every team that deals veterans is looking to get salary off their books, but 2.9 is very affordable for a good MR. Honestly, I'm surprised AZ didn't get more for him. Given the length and affordibility of his contract.

Mulvey's upside is very limited and is overvalued because he was part of the Santana trade. I think he's 25 years old and he's at best a fifth starter

On September 1, 2009, Kevin Mulvey was claimed off waivers to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Arizona Diamondbacks sent cash considerations to the Twins. This claim was made shortly after a trade that sent pitcher Jon Rauch to the Twins for a player to be named later, which later became cash considerations. According to MLB.com "essentially that (the player to be named later) is Mulvey."

Plenty of teams have cleared spots on their 40 man roster over the past couple weeks. It means nothing.

The Mets outrighted 4 players to Buffalo last month, and releasd another. They must be planning on adding 5 new guys by this logic!

Buscher was sent down because he sucks, it's that simple.

The Mariners make sense, as a Mariners fan. Jose Lopez isn't going to be a legitimate thread once pitchers stop throwing him inside fastballs on 2-0 counts.

Get Iwamura, and flip Lopez to a team that thinks his power/RBIs are legit.

"The only problem i see.
Iwamura, Kubel, Mornaeu, Mauer, Span... ALL lefties.

Posted by: patsfanatic83 | November 03, 2009 at 01:33 PM"

I would not worry too much about that. If this team does get Iwamura, watch out..

Kubel isnt very good against his fellow Southpaws(Andre Ethier and him should get together and figure it out), Span hits them very well, Mauer is.. well Mauer, and Morneau is decent against them.

Iwamura has hit lefties very well in the time hes been in the US.

Cuddyer is a beast against Lefties.. So if this trade does happen, they will have to think long and hard about trading one of Young and Cuddyer.

Lol. Guys calm down. Im speaking how Gardy would act. This guy love the lefty then righty lineup. He might throw a fit to know he doesnt have that option with 5 everday lefties in the lineup. Being that we face is righties more then lefties and these lefties hit both well, it would bother me not. But Gardy is stubborn.
Ask any Twins fan lol.

The sox seem to be chaining their 2b spot to getz, which isnt so bad, he did decent in 09.

"He is a natural 2b who was moved to 3b because the Rays had a flux of 2b and Longoria wasnt around yet."

yeah you got that backwards, he was third base but had to move to second to make room for longo

its going to be the Braves. i can feel it.

Morneau MVP- Kevin Mulvey was not a big loss at all and Jon Rauch has turned out to be a very good reliever who also projects to have Type A status as a free agent after the 2010 season. The Twins have 2-3 pitchers that are ready to fill in for Mulvey's spot in Triple A including Swarzak, and Gabino. Mulvey had an 8.14 era in the majors last year in 24 innings and allowed more hits than innings pitched in Triple A. He would not have been on the Twins top 10-20 prospect list.

If it's an NL team then I might guess Cubs. If they are working on a Grabow deal right now, they might be looking to making a trade like this so early. Also, Maybe Padres.. Just a thought.

Towles for Iwamura? Don't think that is on the Rays agenda.

The Nats are looking for a veteran MI, I think Iwamura would be a nice fit. Don't know who we would be willing to trade, unfortunately. Don't think the Rays want any part of Christian Guzman...

Maybe the cardinals if he moves back to 3rd base.

Why would the Pirates want him?

Who called it? Yes!

I think most teams need average offensive/defensive 2B/3B on a reasonable one year contract. At least half the teams in the league should be calling the Rays.

but I hope that it is the Twins.

Pirates may trade a catcher to them.. Robinson Diaz maybe.. keep in mind that the Rays were most likely going to decline his option so they may not be getting much.

AZ is a great fit. Can't wait for the news to come down.

Hurray for Hotstove season!

"Iwamura to the Pirates makes perfect sense. They need someone to shore up the second base spot for at least 2 years. It also gives them someone to bat in the 2 hole in front of Jones."

Iwamura is only signed through 2010, and it's for nearly $5MM. Why should the Pirates pay that kind of money for anyone when they're not going to contend in 2010 anyway? (No offense)

Give regular ABs to Delwyn Young, and Dodgerblue said.

Adding pricey veterans (even if $4.85MM isn't outrageous) to a rebuilding club rarely makes sense, unless it's in a $1MM bench role to provide leadership or spell the young guys who should be getting the playing time.

This isn't the case with Iwamura. Huntington has been a pretty smart GM in his short tenure; I can't see him making this kind of blunder.

Delwyn Young hasn't really secured a starting spot on the Pirates. Though it looked like he was going into about August, he plummeted into a cold streak of something like 6 for 78. Just my opinion, but I think that this could be a good trade for the Pirates.

The Twins evidently thought that Mulvey was not going to develop as they hoped and moved him for a player they felt would help get the into the post-season. Throughout much of the summer, we Twins fans were continually noting that the Twins needed more depth in the bullpen.

Rauch played a significant role in winning the Central Division and getting into the post-season. Five years from now, we may find that Tyler Ladendorf (to the A's for Cabrera), Johan Pino (to Indians for Pavano), and Mulvey are productive major league ball players, but, the veteran players we got back were crucial to our success in '09. Of course, it is just as likely that Mulvey, Ladendorf, and Pino are forgotten names.

Moving prospects for veteran help around the trading deadline is what contending teams often do. We don't have a clue what the D'Backs wanted for Rauch but we do know that they accepted Mulvey - a guy the Twins thought was clearly a decent price to pay for Rauch. Right now, that is a very reasonable trade; five years from now maybe it looks bad, maybe it looks awfully good!

Delwyn Young's defense is sloppy and he tailed off big time in the second half last year. I think he's best as a utility guy and he's a great pinch hitter, as a starter I'm not sure.

The Pirates need to start bringing in some players with track records, NH himself even said guys won't just be handed starting jobs anymore. Guys like Moss, LaRoche, and other young players who are not playing well shouldn't be handed jobs for 5 years to continue the losing trend.

Here's a minor twist... Not only did the Twins simply send Buscher to AAA, but in doing so they made him a minor league free agent.

This pretty drastically affects most of the "platoon 3B" scenarios that was being tossed around. It probably means we're either going all-in with Valencia or going to re-sign Crede with another incentive laden deal. Then again, maybe we're going outside of the organization for someone.

I'm still pulling for Iwamura though. I think he'd be a great fit for the Twins.

"Who cares if Iwamura won't be on the Pirates beyond 2010. Adding assets at good value is never a bad thing, ever.

Posted by: element1286 | November 03, 2009 at 03:26 PM"

The point is that even any marginal prospect they might give up could be someone that could help them down the line, when they might actually stand a chance at being competitive. You don't blow your assets for 2010 when you don't have a chance at competing for 2010 anyways.

Pirates i assume he plays 2b.

Then laroche stays at 3b until alvarez is ready

Neil walker is out of milb options, another 3b/infield option

I'd love to see A's pry away laroche forsome pitching

Micheal Cuddyear can be the 3B or even Matt Tolbert and you also have Harris on the Roster to.

How about him to the Marlins for Jai Miller,Tankersley and so on?

To the Cardinals to play 2B for Motte,Hill the Catcher and so on?

This doesnt make sense. Aki has 1/~5m left on his contract. There is about a 2% chance they compete(everyone has some kinda chance). Unless its a PR move and then trade him again at the deadline, it seems like a 5M waste. And as some have pointed out, they have other options. LaRoche will be at 3B until Alvarez is ready. Then he should go to 2B, Young, who STILL hasnt been given a full year to play. Then, the Pirates also have another prospect who is out of options(walker)...

However, this seems to speed up the potential Uggla/ LAD trade...

I'm with you bigpat. I'm sick of Neil Walker, please get him off the team.