From the Pirates' opening-day lineup last year, Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Jose Castillo, and Jose Bautista are now gone; Ronny Paulino and Chris Duffy were demoted long ago and will probably be on another team the next time they're in the majors; and Adam LaRoche, Jack Wilson, and Zach Duke are still around.

He makes sense as a pickup for the Jays, I guess. Hard to know what they'd be sending back, though.

Seems like JP isn't holding a grudge over the Pirates' request for Snider in their ten-second Bay discussions.

Yes! The missing piece of the puzzle!

You can never have too many guys who can play 2B, 3B, & all three OF spots while putting up an OPS+ right around 90. In fact, it seems like the Jays are trying to corner the market on them, what with Inglett, Scutaro and now Bautista.

Only a few steps away from having a roster where the same 8 defenders take the field each inning, but only play each position for one inning.

I guess they want him to play third when Rolen can't.

Bautista's not a horrible guy to have on your bench. He has some patience and a little power, and could always randomly hit .280 over a 500 PA sample and look like a minor star. He can play any position besides shortstop. Badly, but he can play them without fritzing out.

Good point, Harmon. Apparently Ricciardi has difficulty perceiving the difference between "useful bench guy" and "useful guy", as pertains to acquiring a half dozen of them and rotating them through your lineup.

Good point, Harmon. Apparently Ricciardi has difficulty perceiving the difference between "useful bench guy" and "useful guy", as pertains to acquiring a half dozen of them and rotating them through your lineup.

None of Inglett, Scutaro and Bautista were intended to be more than "useful bench guys".

Inglett was intended to be a bench player, but Hill's injury has pressed him into a starter's role.

Scutaro was signed to be a backup but Gaston's disdain for Eckstein and Rolen's injuries have pressed him into a starter's role.

Anybody have any guesses on the PTBNL? Who's out of favor in Toronto right now?

It has truly been a testament to the Jays pitching that they have managed a winning record despite giving so many at bats to Scutaro, Eckstein, Inglett, Wilkerson, Shannon Stewart et al.

Of their regulars: Rios has an OPS+ of 103, Inglett 104, Wells 105, Overbay 105. Team leader is Adam Lind (who spend most of the season in AAA) at 125.

Chuck, don't get me wrong. I've watched the Jays long enough to know that there have definitely been years where JP's hoarding of multi-tool guys has proven to be smart. This year is one of them.

I was more bemoaning the fact that they represent the type of mediocre / forgettable guys who have been manning the ship all too often over the last few years.

The Pirates have so little use for Bautista that they optioned him to the minors, and have now traded him for PTBNL.

Meanwhile it brings context to the Jays hitting this year when you see them trading for such a player. He instantly becomes the team leader in HR this season with 12.

OK, so Andy LaRoche gets hurt tomorrow. Who plays third base?

Not that it matters since this is the Pirates and if LaRoche gets hurt they're frankly better off just using Javier Guzman or somebody and losing as many games as they can (draft position), but I'm highly skeptical the PTBNL will have anywhere close to the value Bautista has just by cooling his heels in Indianapolis and waiting for an injury.

Assuming they got essentially nothing from the Blue Jays, why not release Luis Rivas instead? Right: Because that would be admitting you made a bad mistake when you signed Rivas in the first place. Bautista is somebody else's mistake.

Or it could be because Bautista won't stop ######## about not playing. I don't know.

"OK, so Andy LaRoche gets hurt tomorrow. Who plays third base?"

Mientkiewicz, probably. Him or a play-out-the-string with Walker/Gomez.

Dougie Ballgame isn't all that bad there, truthfully. I was kind of surprised.

OK, so Andy LaRoche gets hurt tomorrow. Who plays third base?

Russ Adams

I was kind of hoping it would be His Scrappiness.

Third base, you say? Why, Freddy Sanchez. And Brian Bixler can play second base. What an offense!

if LaRoche gets hurt they're frankly better off just using Javier Guzman

That's going to be difficult, seeing that Guzman is now in the Braves' organization.

If Andy LaRoche got hurt, Mientkiewicz (when he comes back from the bereavement list) would likely fill at 3B, with Gomez in reserve against LHP.

As for Bautista: the biggest reason he was traded is that he'll be arbitration-eligible, and would likely have been non-tendered anyway.

-- MWE

They can just take the Blue Jays' PTBNL and send him to the Braves for Javier Guzman. I doubt the Braves will mind.

Javier Guzman pisses me off. I spend more time every year correcting people about his real age...

He's what, 26? :)

I see a lot of Altoona games, so he spent the better part of 2005 pissing me off.

I know it's a small sample. I know the minor-league numbers count. But LaRoche still ain't hitting (starting to show a smidgen of power maybe).

The Kris Benson/Jose Bautisa/Justin Huber trade is cursed!

LaRoche still ain't hitting

As I've said before: Andy LaRoche isn't aggressive enough at the plate. In the minors, you can get away with that; in the majors, you can't.

-- MWE

Hey, that was the Kris Benson/Jose Bautista/Justin Huber/Ty Wigginton/Jeff Keppinger trade. Wigginton has been surprisingly useful since then, although he served no purpose to the Pirates at the time and they cut him a year later for no return. And Keppinger...well, I think it was this thread in which the "Free Jeff Keppinger!" movement had its peak. Although true Keppinger, like true Communism, has still never been tried.

The PTBNL is up, and it's Robinzon Diaz. Given the Pirates' lack of depth behind the plate, it seems like a decent return.