One of the Pirates biggest moves of the 2009-2010 offseason was trading Jesse Chavez to the Rays for Akinori Iwamura. The trade left some big question marks in our bullpen which management did a nice job filling, however, Iwamura's performance so far this year has made that trade look like a really bad one.
Here are the stats: Iwamura has played in 27 games and has 119 plate appearances this year. He is hitting a dismal .194, has scored only 13 runs, and driven in only 8. Iwamura has started 27 games for the Pirates, and he has hit leadoff in 24 of those games. The two things that teams want from their leadoff men are the ability to get on base and the ability to score runs. The two really go hand-in-hand. Iwamura had a good start to the season in both of those categories. In the Pirates first 10 games, Iwamura scored 7 runs and had on base percentage of .370; since then he has scored 6 runs and has an on base percentage of .247 (in 17 games). He is also striking out almost once ever 4 at bats in that stretch. After a pretty good start to the season, Iwamura has not been doing his job at all.
There are rumors that his lack of performance has something to do with his surgically repaired knee. The research suggests that that could have something to do with it, he hit only .250 with an OBP of .310 last year after he missed 2 months because of the injury. Before that, Aki put up very respectable numbers in batting average (.281 career before 2010) and on base percentage (.354 career before 2010). There is really no telling whether his lack of performance after the surgery is directly connected to the knee not being 100%, so the Pirates kind of have to believe him when he says that it has nothing to do with it.
The Pirates don't really have a shot at contending this year, so getting every win we can isn't really the number one priority, and I don't want to say that Iwamura being in the lineup is costing us wins, but it sure isn't helping. The Pirates are 10-17 in games that Aki starts, which makes them 4-0 in games that he doesn't. That's an awful small sample size, but interesting nonetheless.
Iwamura is the Pirates highest paid player this year, he will make $4.85MM in 2010. He is on a short term contact and will in all likelihood not be with the Pirates next season. Those two things put pressure on the Pirates to play him. If Aki sits on the bench the Pirates paid the 4.85 million dollars to him for seemingly nothing, and consequently his trade value festers. Granted, if Iwamura starts for the Pirates and keeps performing like he is now, he will have no trade value at all, but giving him a chance to bounce back at least gives us some hope of getting something for him, as opposed to sitting him and not letting him play his value back up.
Another issue entirely is presented when we consider that Pedro Alvarez is going to be called up this year, pushing Andy LaRoche out of his spot at 3rd base. LaRoche has hit well enough so far to earn a spot in the lineup when Pedro arrives, and the obvious answer is to put him at 2nd. If Iwamura doesn't turn it around soon the Pirates will have no other choice but to bench him for LaRoche. That is more of a reason to continue letting Iwamura start and get his at bats. It's still early in the year, and Iwamura has time to right the ship - but if he wants to stay in the lineup through the rest of the year he better do it quickly.
There are definitely times that I wish the Pirates would bench Iwamura, and the team is probably better off right now with him out of the lineup. However, the Pirates are a long-term focused team, and playing Iwamura now is the best decision for the long term. Let's just hope that Iwamura can turn it around and start producing at the top of the order again.
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