You know, I kept my mouth shut when analyzing the Freddy Sanchez contract. But with reported trade of the Rays' Akinori Iwamura to the Pirates for Jesse Chavez,  I can't keep it in any longer.

Think back a couple of years ago when the game of baseball was the victim of possibly one of the worst breaches of its sacred code since some guy didn't run out a ground ball. You all know what I'm talking about: when Incarnation of Evil Scott Boras and his Willing Servant Alex Rodriguez announced that A-Rod would be opting out of his contract. A-Rod is "finally" hitting in the playoffs, but his horrible legacy lives on. Have teams and players no respect for this, the pure, untainted-by-greed World Series, the holiest part of the baseball calender? Instead of talking about the important stuff like whether or not Cole Hamels has quit on his team, Jose Molina's game-calling skills, Nick Swisher's "slump," trying to figure out if this "Chase Utley" character who just came out of nowhere is any good, and psychological speculation about the Yankees reliving 2004, we're going to have non-stop discussion and dissection of these moves, which is exactly the lesson that A-Rod and Boras wanted to teach to narcissistic, irreverent, selfish jerks like Sanchez, Sabean, Friedman, and especially Iwamura and his agent Alan Nero, who obviously negotiated his contract conditions with the idea of ruining from the World Series.

I guess we'll just have to push through and try to enjoy what's left, in between the constant Aki Updates. I'm so mad, I'm not even going to try and analyze Jesse Chavez. You hear that, Iwamura, you attention-craving jerk? Your strategy worked. Even a bigwig like me is going to give ALL the attention to you.

Akinori "It's All About Aki" Iwamura

#1 / Second Base / Tampa Bay Rays

Height: 5-9

Weight: 200

Bats: L

Throws: R

Born: Feb 09, 1979

Hitting: Iwamura was an above-average hitter in 2007 and 2009 (although he only got in 260 PAs during the latter), with a .338 wOBA (using FanGraph's data) during both,  and was below average in 2008, with .323. Adjusting for age and regressing, he we'd estimate his skill to be a .329 wOBA hitter, or almost exactly average in this run environement, so 0 runs above/below average.

Fielding: There's a pretty big discrepancy here between the numbers and the fans when it comes to evaluating Iwamura's defense. In 2007, playing primarily 3B, Iwamura's UZR/150 was -0.2. In 2008 he made the switch to 2B, and had +1.6. This past season, he was almost completely average at 2B, with a -0.2. The Fans had a different opinion. According to my translations, the fans thought his skills for 2B warranted a +10.1 in 2007, +12.6 in 2008, and +3.4 in 2009. Overall, I estimate that is about 2.5 runs above average at 2B.

Putting it all together: Iwamura's had some injury problems and he isn't getting any younger, so we'll put him at 75% playing time. Average offense (+0) + 2.5 Fielding +2.5 Position Adjustment +25 AL Replacement Level = ~30 runs above replacement times 75% playing time = about 2.2 Wins Above Replacement.

Despite revealing himself as an obvious egomaniac and possibly a sociopath, Iwamura is probably an average player at worst, and is getting paid like a part-timer in 2010 ($4.25M). Some might think this trade is pointless at best for the Pirates, although as Dave Cameron notes, there's something to be said for a team like the Pirates just getting a good player at a good price. It's not like Chavez looks like much of a loss at this point. And, (to beat it into the ground) maybe the Pirates can turn Iwamura into Madison Bumgarner at the deadline next season!

As for the Rays, I guess their hand was forced by the contract (that's no excuse, though). While Iwamura was cheap for his expected performance, he wasn't going to start next year given the presence of the far superior (and much cheaper and younger) Ben Zobrist (not to mention guys like Sean Rodriguez and Willie Aybar who will be jostling for paying time). So the money can be better used elsewhere for them.

Plus, I bet Iwamura's a choker in the playoffs, just the player after whom he obviously models himself.