Big Lead Sports Bar

12/08/2010

Pirates Sign OF Matt Diaz



Meet your newest Bucco, the soon-to-be-hit-by-pitch Matt Diaz (pronounced DYE az).

Diaz, a 32-year-old outfielder, reached a two-year deal with the team this morning, with financial terms not yet known. But I'm going out on a limb and guessing it's not in the ballpark of the Jayson Werth deal.

Diaz could possibly be a platoon candidate in RF with Garrett Jones, according to Dejan Kovacevic. He hit .250 with a .302 on-base percentage, seven home runs and 31 RBIs in 84 games for Atlanta last season, and is a career .301 hitter who bats .335 against lefties, for those of you thinking about that aforementioned platoon.

Diaz was a 17th-round pick of the Rays in 1999 after an accomplished college career at Florida State that included a trip to the '99 College World Series Final. He made his MLB debut with Tampa in 2003 but did not get any serious playing time until joining the Braves in 2006, when he appeared in 124 games. And he's also the brother of a pretty accomplished Christian pop singer, for those of you into obscure trivia.

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5 comments:

Nate said...

He's a good platoon player, but I'd rather have Milledge. Similar numbers against lefties, and Milledge is younger. Though I'm sure Diaz will make far fewer egregious baserunning mistakes, so that's a point in his favor.

HomeRunFromBehindTheMeatballs said...

@ Nate - I agree. I was not at all sad to see Lastings go (and take his horrible baserunning and plural first name with him), but if this is gonna be his replacement? ...i just don't get it. There's a long way to go in the offseason and we'll have to wait 'n see how it plays out.

As long as they get a few hot dogs and some nachos for doumit, i'll be happy with the off season.

P.O. said...

are playoff tickets on sale yet??

HomeRunFromBehindTheMeatballs said...

@p.o. - if you're not interested, then don't read this article. Find somewhere that Nate or I mentioned or even notioned towards playoffs. We're just hoping for an improvement next season.

Bababooey said...

Playoffs?hahhahaha