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Report: Pirates claim Xavier Paul

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Well, I suppose that was inevitable. Wasn’t completely convinced it would happen, but the odds were Xavier Paul’s days as a Dodger were over when they tried to pass him through waivers after calling up Jerry Sands.

Some team figured to be in more trouble in its outfield, and it’s no shocker that the team turned out to be the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates.

Fox Sports’ Jon Paul Morosi has tweeted that the Pirates claimed Paul early Tuesday, meaning they will have to make room on their 25-man (and 40-man) roster to add him.

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There already has been some outcry that giving up on Paul is going to prove a mistake, that’s he’s going to come back to haunt the Dodgers like Jayson Werth.

I don’t think so. Paul has minimum power, particularly for someone who strikes out as much as he does. Although his playing time was sporadic, he never showed the ability as a Dodger to take his minor-league success to the next level.

In parts of the past three seasons, he got 146 at-bats and hit .233 with a .329 slugging percentage and 33 strikeouts.

He always struck me as that awkward tweener, a fairly strong minor leaguer who wasn’t quite good enough to take that last step. He was fast, but not that fast. He had a some power, but not much. He was a decent defender, but was somewhat uncomfortable-looking in the outfield.

Hey, hope he makes it Pittsburgh. Wish him all the best. Just don’t think the Dodgers will end up cursing the day Paul got away.

-- Steve Dilbeck

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