THE INFIELD:
1B: John Jaso / Jason Rogers
2B: Josh Harrison
SS: Jordy Mercer
3B: Jung-Ho Kang (DL) / David Freese
This group isn’t too different from the one the Pirates have used so far this season with the big omission of Mike Morse. Acquired at the trade deadline last season, Morse’s biggest accomplishment with the Pirates may have been getting the Jose Tabata contract off the books. Since released, Morse was surprisingly good at times in a Pirates’ uniform, but that time was limited. It’s uncertain how much of Morse’s contract was guaranteed and how much of that makes up the Pirates’ $5 million portion. Let’s assume the Pirates stayed true to tradition and wouldn’t have thrown away the full $5 million, but we also can’t expect them not to pay out part of it. We’ll give the Pirates back $3.5 million because, after all, internet GM is such an accurate job.
Jason Rogers gets the nod as the right-hand platoon partner in place of Morse because his price tag comes in at a cool $510,000 for the same fielding percentage of .995 at first base in Milwaukee last season as Morse has averaged for his career. Otherwise, what was the point of trading for a player with more offensive upside, versatility, and years of control at a fraction of the cost if you aren’t going to use him from the start? That would just be ridiculous. Of course, Rogers having an option would have made him an easy person to send down when Kang gets back.
No one available this past offseason at shortstop within the Pirates price range made sense to replace Mercer, so thankfully, Mercer stayed on our roster to put up some excellent offensive numbers so far, even if his defense has been lacking the first few weeks. Also, the inclusion of Josh Harrison at second means we stuck with the trade that brought in Jon Niese and sent Neil Walker to the Mets.
Infield Total: $16,825,000
Roster Total: $16,825,000
Click here to take a look at the outfield.
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