Blue Jays pick up third baseman Bautista

The Toronto Blue Jays acquired some depth in the infield on Thursday, picking up third baseman Jose Bautista from the Pittsburgh Pirates for a player to be named later.  

Bautista hit .242 with 12 home runs and 44 runs batted in with Pittsburgh in 107 games. He became expendable when Andy LaRoche came to the Pirates from the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier this month in a three-team deal that also involved the Boston Red Sox.

Bautista was in his fourth season with Pittsburgh after bouncing around in his first year, 2004, with three other clubs before joining the Pirates: Baltimore, Kansas City and Tampa Bay.

The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, native has hit 43 home runs and 161 RBIs in 441 career games, with a .240 average. While Bautista has some pop, he has more than twice as many strikeouts (335) as walks (162).

Toronto has usually been relieving Scott Rolen at third this season with Marco Scutaro.

While Bautista has predominantly played third base, he has logged in more than 100 games in the outfield positions.