While the Pirates didn't make any front pages with their offseason acquisitions, one signing could end up having a big impact on the fantasy fortunes of their pitchers: first base coach and 'unofficial' infield coach Perry Hill.

Hill has a reputation as something of a miracle worker, and the reputation is deserved. With the Expos, he helped Orlando Cabrera win a Gold Glove at shortstop. After he moved on to the Marlins, their air-tight infield defense helped propel them to a World Series win, as well as more Gold Gloves for Derrek Lee, Mike Lowell and Luis Castillo. He took a couple of years off after 2006 due to some family issues, and the Marlins team defense subsequently took a nosedive.

Now he's in Pittsburgh, and he's already making his mark. "I've already learned more from Perry Hill in a month than I've learned from anybody in baseball," Freddy Sanchezgushed earlier in camp. While most fantasy leagues don't use defensive stats, they do use ERA and WHIP, and the Pirates pitchers are going to love what they're seeing happening behind them on balls in play, just as Josh Beckett and Brad Penny and AJ Burnett did earlier in the decade.

If you're trying to decide between, say, Paul Maholm and Joe Saunders at the draft table, or whether to throw an endgame buck at Zach Duke, remember who has the best infield defense coach in the game on their side.