Ty Wigginton

by bugbear on Dec 13, 2008 3:55 PM EST Comment 5 comments

Ty Wigginton was non-tendered yesterday by the Astros. Wigginton has the following attributes:

He has played all four corners plus second base in his major league career. He has been below average in the IF, but slightly above average in the OF in limited play--of course, just being average would make him 1-2 wins better than Ibanez.
He hit .285/.350/.526 last year, in time limited by a thumb injury.
His projections for next year have him hitting around .270/.330/.470, which is what his track record before last year's spike (R.J. Anderson wrote about Wigginton at Fangraphs, suggesting he had a fluky HR/FB rate; the short fence in left might help him at CBP, though we said the same of Feliz and it didn't happen)
He would help balance the lineup. Career OPS vs. Lefties: .878.
Random fact: He has MASHED the Marlins in his career, putting up an OPS of over 1.000 against them in nearly 200 PA.

The fact is, signing Wigginton could have done the same things trading for DeRosa could have done, for a bigger committment (he was due for $7 million or so in arb, and is probably be looking for a Casey Blake type deal or slightly more) but no loss of talent, while leaving more money open to try attracting Lowe or another pitcher. The Ibanez deal was perplexing just in comparison to options like Burrell or Dunn, but it CONTINUES to get more absurd the more you look around at the other options out there.

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Read More: Wigginton, Abercrombie Non-Tendered(MLB.com)

Comments

Great call. I’d love to see them get Wigginton: he’s a swiss army knife who would partner with Dobbs and Stairs to give us probably the best bench in the league, and could spot Howard or Ibanez or Utley (who will need to be rested a little more) if Manuel wanted to give them a breather against a tough lefty. Plus he looks like Shrek, which is fun.

Probably he makes too much sense for the Phillies. My guess is he goes back to the Mets, plays a lot of second base and left field (both positions of some need for them), and hits 20 homers. But I’m in a bummer head about the team today, so hopefully I’m wrong.

by dajafi on Dec 13, 2008 4:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Wigginton would be a nice addition, but with several teams out there having a 3B vacancy (the Twins and Indians both come to mind), I’d be surprised if he doesn’t sign on to be a starter somewhere.

by PhillyFriar on Dec 14, 2008 6:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

yeah, this was more of a “what-if” post. the money committed to Ibanez almost certainly precludes signing Wigginton on to be a utility player; we just have to hope it doesn’t also preclude them from putting money into the lower rungs of the draft or signing, say, Derek Lowe (Keith Law is on the record in one of his chats asserting that Lowe would be a Cy Young candidate in front of our infield defense).

by bugbear on Dec 14, 2008 7:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Couldn’t agree more regarding the ramifications of the Ibanez signing. If signing Ibanez instead of Burrell was to “save” money to use on someone like Lowe, then it makes it a little less terrible. But if our big offseason moves are done, then color me unimpressed.

by PhillyFriar on Dec 14, 2008 10:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs