Oh boy, we've got a trade today! Well, that's if you count Cesar Izturis to the Pirates for a player to be named later and some cash a trade. But Izturis going to the Pirates isn't really what's interesting. I mean, it's interesting if you're curious why Dave Littlefield acquired yet another all-field, no-hit utility guy for the team with the worst on-base percentage in baseball, but I was thinking beyond that.
It's interesting because it means that the Pirates may be close to dealing the longest tenured Pirate, Jack Wilson. Wilson is in the first year of an ill-advised 3 year/$20.2 million contract that is back-loaded with over $15 million of the contract coming in 2008 and 2009. That's pricey for anyone, but especially so for the small-market Pirates. Since Wilson has only slugged over .400 once in his career, people have been guessing all year that the Pirates will try to drop Wilson off on a contender with a big hole at short that wouldn't mind paying a premium for good defense.
Does anyone fit that bill? The name that comes up most among Pirate fans is the Red Sox, who have just about had it with the Julio Lugo experience and might take Wilson's .660 OPS and usually stellar defense over Lugo's .606 OPS and mostly average defense. It's a steep price to pay for what seems like a pretty minor upgrade though, not to mention what he might cost them in terms of personnel
