FanPost

Ty Wigginton

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.