The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired second baseman Akinori Iwamura for right-handed reliever Jesse Chavez.

As Dave alluded to earlier, the Pirates are set to acquire second baseman Akinori Iwamura from the Rays for (per Ken Rosenthal) right-handed reliever Jesse Chavez.

In a vacuum, this is a win for the Pirates. Iwamura is at-worst a league average player making less than what a win costs. His second base defense is average to slightly above, although his quick feet sometimes gives the impression of so much more. Iwamura’s cat-like agility is met with crisp and precise footwork. His range appears weak going towards his right. Offensively, Iwamura shows strong discipline at the plate (an O-Swing% of 14.5) and has walked 10% of the time in his three seasons in America. His career wOBA of .331 is quite reflective of his skill set. The Pirates figure to bat Iwamura second and this probably ends Delwyn Young’s tenure as a starting second baseman, barring something unforeseen like Iwamura shifting back to third and displacing Andy LaRoche and Neil Walker further.

Nice pick-up for the Pirates.

The only downside to the move was that the Rays were likely to non-tender Iwamura later in the offseason.  The Pirates, however, would not have been guaranteed his services for the 2010 season.