Piniella Wants Lefty hitter with power

Carrie Muskat writes; "The only thing I talked about last season," Piniella said Tuesday, "was a need for a left-hand bat in a predominantly right-handed lineup who could hit the ball for power and drive in some runs. Look at our production last year, and it was mainly from the right side. We didn't bring [Jim] Edmonds back and he hit quite a few home runs.

"We needed a left-hand bat, that's it," Piniella said. "That was what I mentioned, that we could use a nice productive left-hand bat in the middle of our right-hand hitting."