31-year old lefty swinging Akinori Iwamura was brought over in a trade with the Rays over the winter and he will take over as the new starting 2B for the Pirates in 2010. He played in 69 games for the Rays last season and he was 67 for 231 (.290 avg, .745 OPS) with 28 runs scored, 1 homer, 22 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. Iwamura is a solid top of the order hitter who gets on base a lot. He played in 67 games at 2B for the Rays last season and he made 6 errors while showing poor range. Iwamura is a converted 3B but he is a lot better than he showed defensively last year for the Rays. He hustles all of the time and that will rub off on some of the younger players as Iwamura is a winner.

27-year old righty swinging Ronny Cedeno will battle for the starting job at SS with Bobby Crosby this spring. He also can play some 2B if the Pirates need him to. He played in 13 games at 2B last season and he made 1 error while showing slightly below average range.

33-year old lefty swinging Ramon Vazquez is back for another year for the Pirates as a backup infielder. He played in 22 error-free games for the Pirates at 2B last season while showing slightly below average range. He, like Cedeno, is a natural shortstop.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2B IN 2010: C+

Lefty starting pitcher John Candelaria was known as the “Candy Man” in Pittsburgh. He was a darn good pitcher for them too. He pitched in 345 games (271 starts) in his 12 years for the Pirates and he was 124-87 with 16 saves, a 3.17 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. His best year for the Pirates was 1977 when he worked in 33 games (all starts) in which he was 20-5 with a 2.34 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. He finished 5th in the voting for the Cy Young Award in 1977. Candelaria is #7 all-time in Pirates’ history in games started (271) and he is also #5 in strikeouts (1,159). The “Candy Man” will always have his place in Pirates’ history as he was on the “We Are Family” Pirates team that won a World Series.

28-year old lefty swinging Garrett Jones had a breakout year last season. He is looking like he will be the starter at 1B for the Pirates when the season begins. Jones played in 82 games for the Pirates last season and he was 92 for 314 (.293 avg, .939 OPS) with 45 runs scored, 21 homers, 44 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Those are pretty darn impressive numbers for half a season. The Pirates hope that his 2009 season was not a mirage but more of a preview of things to come. Jones played in 30 games at 1B for the Pirates last season and he only made 1 error.

26-year old lefty swinging Jeff Clement came over from the Mariners in the Jack Wilson trade last summer. It was kind of curious though as to why the Pirates didn’t bring him up when rosters expanded on September 1st. Clement played in 119 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 129 for 470 (.274 avg, .850 OPS) with 81 runs scored, 21 homers and 90 RBIs. Clement is a converted catcher so he still has a ways to go before he is a solid defensive 1B.

26-year old righty swinging Steve Pearce is running out of chances with the Pirates. He played in 60 games for the Pirates last season and he was 34 for 165 (.206 avg, .666 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 4 homers and 16 RBIs. Pearce made 2 errors in 42 games at 1B for the Pirates last season.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 1B IN 2010: C-

The Pirates tried to trade 28-year old switch-hitting Ryan Doumit all winter long but to no avail so he will return as the Pirates’ starting catcher in 2010. He played in 75 games for the Pirates last season and he was 70 for 280 (.250 avg, .713 OPS) with 31 runs scored, 10 homers, 38 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. The Pirates are hoping that a return to health with get Doumit’s bat back up to his career norms of .273 with a .780 OPS. If he hits more like his career norms than his defensive shortcomings can be overlooked. Doumit had 6 errors and 2 passed balls in only 71 games behind the plate and that is just not acceptable. He did throw out 20% of the runners trying to steal on him which was slightly below average but Pirates’ pitchers like throwing to him as they had a 4.48 ERA with him behind the plate.

27-year old switch-hitting Jason Jaramillo will back-up Ryan Doumit in 2010 for the Pirates. He played in 63 games for the Pirates last season and he was 52 for 206 (.252 avg, .673 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 3 homers and 26 RBIs. Jaramillo doesn’t have much power and he hasn’t shown anything in the minors to suggest that he has much of a upside as a hitter. Jaramillo made 4 errors and he had 4 passed balls in 62 games behind the plate last season for the Pirates. He threw out 23% of the runners trying to steal on him last season but Pirates’ pitchers had a 5.04 ERA with him behind the plate. Jaramillo looks like he needs to improve his defense some to be a decent back-up catcher at the major league level because he doesn’t have Doumit’s upside as a hitter.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CATCHERS IN 2010: C-

The Pirates have designated 25-year ild righty starter/reliever Anthony Claggett for assignment to make room on the roster for Octavio Dotel. Claggett pitched in 3 games (0 starts) for the Yankees and Pirates last season and he was 0-0 with a 27.00 ERA and a 4.64 WHIP. He also pitched in 39 games (5 starts) in AAA-ball last year and he was 7-7 with 4 saves, a 3.07 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. The Pirates won’t miss Claggett too much as he looked overwhelmed against major league hitters last year.