PIRATES' LEDEZMA EATS INNINGS, HATS

Does the Pirates' signing of pitcher Wil Ledezma to a minor-league deal today qualify as a hot stove move? No? Well, I'm going to elaborate on his background anyway: his MLB debut was in 2003 with Detroit, he's also spent time with Atlanta, San Diego, Arizona, and most recently, Washington, he's 28 years old, and as you can see from his baseball card, he's left-handed.

I could go on and on and recite his crappy statistics (15-22 career record, 5.17 ERA, etc., etc. etc.), which will probably go in one ear and out the other. On the other hand, I could tell you that he once ate his own hat in a 2006 game. Elaborate? I'd be glad to:

One of the most bizarre moments of the 2006 season occurred when Ledezma was given a rare spot start on September 8. After giving up five earned runs in 4.1 innings, an obviously distressed Ledezma returned to the dugout and proceeded to dismantle and, literally, eat his hat. The episode received little comment (aside from an awkward moment in the FSN broadcast of the game).

In the "Pirates with bizarre stories" category, Ledezma replaces the recently departed Chris Bootcheck, who famously suffered a hamstring injury on May 2, 2006, while running from the bullpen to the mound during an Angels brawl with the Oakland Athletics - as manly of an injury as you could possibly suffer. I've always said that if the Pirates are going to stink, the least they could do is give us something interesting to watch while they lose their next 100 games. It never hurts to have a few wild cards on the roster to keep things fresh during the dog days of a 162-game exercise in futility.

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