Freddy Sanchez

Pirates confronting the question: Why not Freddy?

The link above is to a nice article on Freddy Sanchez.

There is little doubt he is going to be an everyday player once the specter of Joe Randa no long looms over him.

Last off-season, Pirates management was not completely sold on Sanchez as an everyday thirdbaseman and decided to sign Joe Randa to a one-year contract.

Freddy has proven thier caution to have been unnecessary.

Joe Randa has been told he will regain his starting job when he finally exits the disabled list. However, he is supportive of a dimished role due to Sanchez's success while filling-in.

Given this is the Pirates and GM Dave Littlefield reiterated recently that Randa will get his job back, I suspect Randa gets the job back. (If you need another example of managerial incompetence, look no further than the GM dictating who plays and who doesn't.)

This decision can be used by the wily Roto owner to acquire Sanchez cheaply once Randa is activated. I have little doubt Sanchez is the Opening Day 3B in 2007. I also believe he will be the full-time 3B by July 31.

His expected performance is a slightly better....Joe Randa!