Chris

Truby

''Defensively at third base, (Truby) has been excellent,’' manager Lou Piniella said. ''We’ll play them both.’' Easley is hitting .200 with three errors, while Truby is hitting .279 with one error. You don’t want to be relying on either of them.

Truby hit .341 and slugged .512 in 41 at-bats, but since he was in camp in a minor league contract and Chris Stynes (.160, .220 SLG) is guaranteed money, there was no competition for third base duties in Pittsburgh.

Truby will be Triple-A Nashville’s starting third baseman. The Pirates are going to carry four players who can play third base, so it will take more than one injury to get Truby back to the majors.

We find it hard to believe there really so much competition for Truby that the major league deal was necessary. The 30-year-old did hit .300/.367/.558 for Triple-A Nashville last season, but it 819 major league at-bats, he has a .231/.269/.388 line. The Royals will continue looking for a regular third baseman. Truby might be a fallback option to play over Mark Teahen for a half season if the Royals can’t find anyone else.

Well, Truby was off to a good start (862 OPS) for Durham, but he wasn’t playing as well as Jorge Fabregas, Hector Ortiz, Jason Tyner or Scott Neuberger, which makes it obvious that they are putting something in the North Carolina water supply. These are the D-Rays, so we can’t write with any degree of certainty that Truby won’t have any fantasy value. However, he really shouldn’t.

Truby did about as well as could have been expected while with the Rays, but he’s gone as part of roster shakeup day.

Truby is scheduled to have the splint removed from his left wrist Monday and begin two weeks of rehab swings. He’ll probably be ready to rejoin the Royals in early May, but there shouldn’t be room on the roster for him if Mark Teahen plays well.

Truby had been out with soreness in the wrist since the start of the exhitbition season, but the Royals never realized it was anything serious. His injury leaves the door wide open for Mark Teahen. The rookie could be the Opening Day third baseman and then keep the job all year long. Truby shouldn’t be anything more than a $1 pick in AL-only leagues unless Teahen really stumbles over the rest of the spring.

A bit of an opening for Mark Teahen. Truby is expected to open the year as Kansas City’s third baseman while Teahen returns to Triple-A for more seasoning.

Truby hit .279 in 13 games for the Rays before losing his job last week.