28-year old righty swinging shortstop Ronny Cedeno is likely in his last season as a Pittsburgh Pirate. The Pirates hold a team option for the 2012 season on Cedeno, but he hasn’t really played well enough this year to earn it. Cedeno has played in 120 games for the Pirates so far this year and he is 99 for 387 (.256 avg, .654 OPS) with 42 runs scored, 2 homers, 31 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Cedeno has now played in 305 games in his first three years with the Pirates and he is 259 for 1,010 (.256 avg, .671 OPS) with 101 runs scored, 15 homers, 90 RBIs and 16 stolen bases.

26-year old righty swinging 3B/SS Brandon Wood is playing the best ball of his career for the Pirates so far this year. He has played in 87 games for the Pirates this year and he is 47 for 218 (.216 avg, .618 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 7 homers and 30 RBIs. He has now played in 260 games in his first five years in the majors and he is 125 for 682 (.183 avg, .508 OPS) with 63 runs scored, 16 homers, 63 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. He has only walked 31 times in his major league career while whiffing a stunning 213 times! He is not much of a player and I really hope the Pirates don’t bring him back in 2012.

When the Pirates acquired 33-year old righty swinging outfielder Ryan Ludwick from the Padres at the trade deadline, they were expecting him to give the offense a jolt. That hasn’t happened as of yet. He has played in 16 games for the Pirates so far this year and he is 12 for 51 (.235 avg, .605 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 0 homers and 5 RBIs. He has also whiffed 15 times already for the Pirates, often looking like he has a hole in his bat. Ludwick has now played in 117 games overall this year for the Pirates & Padres and he is 102 for 429 (.238 avg, .666 OPS) with 47 runs scored, 11 homers, 69 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Pirates hope he picks up the pace with the bat for them soon.

When Jose Tabata comes off the disabled list, 30-year old lefty swinging RF/1B Garrett Jones is likely to lose a lot of P.T. Ryan Ludwick will likely slide over to RF to start and Jones won’t get any starts at 1B with Derrek Lee there. Jones has played in 100 games for the Pirates so far this year and he is 69 for 287 (.240 avg, .763 OPS) with 35 runs scored, 12 homers, 43 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. 33-year old righty swinging Matt Diaz (Jones’ platoon partner) is also in line to lose a lot of P.T. going forward. He has played in 84 games for the Pirates so far this year and he is 50 for 187 (.267 avg, .643 OPS) with 12 runs scored, 0 homers, 16 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Despite Jones and Diaz losing P.T., it’s the best thing for the Pirates right now. Jones and Diaz will give the Pirates a nice pair of pinch hitters late in games.

28-year old righty swinging SS Ronny Cedeno isn’t hitting a lick for the Pirates this year. Cedeno has played in 67 games for the Pirates so far this year and he is 47 for 211 (.223 avg, .590 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 2 homers, 18 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Cedeno has now played in 252 games in his three years with the Pirates and he is 207 for 834 (.248 avg, .658 OPS) with 83 runs scored, 15 homers, 77 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. The Pirates really should look into ways to replace Cedeno as having him in the lineup is like having two pitchers in it and it would be hard to win that way.