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Rays deal Aki Iwamura to Pirates for reliever

Associated Press file photo

Iwamura hit .290 with one home run, 22 RBI and nine stolen bases in 69 games for the Rays this season.

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By TONY FABRIZIO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2009

Updated: 11/04/2009 04:34 am

Whenever discussing the Rays' worst-to-first transformation in 2008, executive vice president Andrew Friedman mentions Akinori Iwamura's selflessness in moving from third base to second.

"Essentially, his comment was, 'whatever it takes to help the team win,'" Friedman recalled Tuesday night. "And I think all of his teammates saw that and really appreciated that, as did the organization."

"Aki" did help the Rays win – he was the lead-off batter and second baseman for the 2008 American League champions – but his time in Tampa Bay is done.

The Rays traded the popular native of Japan to the Pirates for Jesse Chavez, a right-handed reliever who was 1-4 with a 4.01 ERA last year as a rookie.

"We've got areas we need to try to address, with the bullpen and the catching situation," Friedman said. "With (Ben) Zobrist, (Reid) Brignac and (Sean) Rodriguez, it's not clear how things are going to shake out, but it was an area where we had some depth."

The Rays had until the day after the World Series to exercise a $4.85 million option on Iwamura's contract or pay a $550,000 buyout and allow him to become a free agent. A third possibility was to trade him while they still held the option.

While the Rays didn't get equal value in the trade, that isn't what this transaction was about. They avoided paying the buyout and, rather than getting nothing, acquired a pitcher Friedman said has "swing and miss stuff" and "real upside."

"Now it's about trying to harness it and have it play that way at the major league level," Friedman said of Chavez, 26, who led all rookies with 73 appearances this year and is 1-5 with a 4.48 ERA overall in the majors.

Iwamura, 30, signed with the Rays before the 2007 season after earning six Gold Gloves at third base for the Japanese Central League's Yakult Swallows.

In three seasons with Tampa Bay, Iwamura hit .281 with 104 RBIs, 29 stolen bases and a .354 on-base percentage. This year, while missing more than three months after suffering partial tears of his left ACL and meniscus in May, he batted .290 with 22 RBIs and nine stolen bases.

There had been talk for weeks that the Rays might try to trade Iwamura rather than paying the buyout, but the speculation usually centered on a deal with the Cubs or Dodgers. Friedman said Tuesday the Pirates "were all over us for about a month."

"They'd done their home work and saw the depth we had and said, 'hey, we want to put our hat in the ring; we have a lot of interest in Aki,'" he said. "It was something we had in the back of our minds, but at that point we weren't really sure which direction we were going to go in."

Reporter Tony Fabrizio can be reached at 813-259-7994.

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