The Pirates will designate Akinori Iwamura and Erik Kratz for assignment tomorrow, the team announced this afternoon. In related moves, Pittsburgh will recall Pedro Ciriaco, Jason Jaramillo, Brad Lincoln and Justin Thomas and select the contracts of Alex Presley, Brandon Moss, Brian Bass and Steven Jackson.
The Pirates, who traded for Iwamura last offseason, have already designated the infielder for assignment once in 2010. Pittsburgh reportedly tried to find a trade partner, but ultimately kept Iwamura and demoted him to the minor leagues. The 31-year-old hit .265/.403/.395 at Triple A Indianapolis – much better than the .182/.292/.267 line he posted in 193 big league plate appearances this year.
Kratz, 30, debuted in the major leagues this summer after a decade in the minors. His minor league numbers suggest he has some pop and patience, but Kratz collected just four singles and two walks in 36 big league plate appearances.
Nice. Alex Presley deserves to be up.
Should we be excited about this dude at all?
Probably not, but anyone’s better than Ryan Church.
I’m excited to see Lincoln.
I’m not. He really needs to improve if he’s supposed to be a mainstay in the rotation.
I was excited the first time. Not so much this time. I still think he can be a legit 3 or 4.
I honestly wouldn’t mind the Twins picking up Aki for a minor league deal. Get him on a weight plan in the offseason and let him compete for the 2B job with Hudson or whoever else the Twins look at for the spot. That’s assuming he’s willing to work with the club on his weight and see if his knee is back to 100%.
And I guess it all depends on how much he costs.
Please tell me Aki is gone for real this time.So i can finally get ridd of the knee brace jokes.I just reliazed 5 starters from the bucs opening day roster lost there jobs and are now backups.You have to say they have improved right?