The latest in the Pirates underwhelming winter meeting additions is outfielder Matt Diaz,who signed a two year deal with Pittsburgh today.The contract will pay the 32 year old Diaz 4.25 million over the course of the contract and puts the Pirate lineup into question as of now.
Diaz suffered a down year in 2010 after a pretty good 2009 and is looked at as an righthanded platoon option in right field with either Garrett Jones or John Bowker.
If the platoon is with Jones then the Pirates might be looking at Steve Pearce at first and a lefty first baseman still to come,but a possible scenario that makes sense to me would be a Diaz/Bowker platoon in right with a Jones/Pearce pairing on the first base side.
One issue that I would like to address as food for thought is this-What about Matt Diaz makes the Pirates better than Lastings Milledge?
Diaz has a little more power ( 34 HR's over the last four seasons to Milledge's 29) and a small advantage in OPS with Milledge being younger and faster.
Looking at both players,I just don't see where Diaz is worth two to three million more over the next two years than Milledge,that is projecting Milledge as making 1 to 1,5 million.
I am not saying Milledge is the superior player,just that I think the Pirates will be paying more money for similar production and that is something that the Pirates cannot afford to do.
Matt Diaz is a hustling player from what I have seen and is likely to be a Pittsburgh fan favorite,but in the end I think for the second time in two days that the Pirates have paid too much either dollars or years for a player that doesn't really improve the club.
I will be back later or tomorrow with some goodbyes to Don Meredith and Elizabeth Edwards.
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