Feb 17, 2012 By John Perrotto for Heraldstandard.Com 3 min read

The Pirates will have their share of new faces when they open spring training Saturday with the reporting of pitching and catchers to Bradenton, Fla.

The Pirates and Yankees completed a trade for veteran right-hander A.J. Burnett Friday for cash considerations and two minor league players.

So, here are thoughts on the three players acquired over the winter who figure to make the biggest impact in 2012:

— Erik Bedard: The left-hander is exactly what the Pirates need, a left-hander with great stuff who can pitch at the top of the rotation. Too bad this wasn’t 2007 instead of 2012, though.

Bedard hasn’t pitched more than 130 innings in a season since ’07 because of a myriad of physical problems, most notably a balky shoulder that has required three surgeries. Bedard’s arm held up throughout the 2011 season with Seattle and Boston, but a knee injury sent him to the disabled list in a year in which he went a combined 5-9 with a fine 3.62 ERA in 24 starts.

There is no doubt Bedard will be the Pirates’ best starting pitcher. Until he gets hurt again, that is.

— Rod Barajas: Barajas has averaged 17 home runs over the last three seasons. That’s a welcome addition to the Pirates’ pop-gun attack, even if he struggles to push his on base percentage over .300.

The Pirates, though, acquired Barajas as much for his defensive work than his power. They like the idea of having a veteran catcher work with a relatively young pitching staff.

Barajas can also actually catch the ball. That’s something his predecessor Ryan Doumit never developed a knack for, which is a pretty fatal flaw at a position called CATCHer.

— Clint Barmes: Barmes is the exact opposite of the man he is replacing as the starting shortstop, Ronny Cedeno. Barmes is very consistent, unlike the flighty Cedeno.

The bad news is that consistency includes Barmes has hitting in the .240s in five of the last six seasons. The good news is that he’s good for double-digit home runs every year and plays good defense.

In fact, Barmes plays such good defense that the Pirates were compelled to include the new-wave statistic UZR — Ultimate Zone Rating — on the press release announcing his signing as a free agent.

You need a mathematics degree from Princeton to explain UZR and I don’t happen to have one. However, Barmes led the National League in that category last season while playing for Houston.

So, if nothing else, 2012 we be a learning experience for those of us who follow the Pirates in our quest to find out exactly what is UZR.