Wigginton Signs!!!

Ty Wigginton signed today but unfortunately with the wrong team. The Orioles managed to sign him to a two year contract. Apparently, Wigginton will get $6 million over those two years. Why could the Twins Front Office not get this done for this amount of money? He is worth the risk!

9 months ago 33MorneauMVP 14 comments 0 recs |

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Yup.

I definitely would have made this deal.

by Jesse on Feb 3, 2009 4:23 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

No.

Don’t cry over this one. Wigginton would not play third base defense well enough to stay out there regularly anyway for Gardenhire (-14.8 UZR/150 over 4200 innings). He is not appreciably better than Brendan Harris is, all-around, and we already have Brendan Harris.

by DK on Feb 3, 2009 4:33 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Agree

This one definitely is not worth getting too worried about… Given equivalent playing time, I think Harris is about as good offensively and no worse defensively.

He’s not even going to play 3B for the O’s.

by SethSpeaks on Feb 3, 2009 5:40 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Meh

He’s a marginal improvement in power over Buscher/Harris in power. Otherwise, he’s a downgrade: He’ll make less contact, he’ll play worse defense, and he’ll clog up the bases. They’re money is better spent on Crede.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Feb 4, 2009 10:04 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Wow

I have got to stop doing ten things at once. Is that English?

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Feb 4, 2009 10:05 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Are you

…talking about your use of the ridiculous phrase “clog up the bases”? ;)

by DK on Feb 4, 2009 11:34 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I have a standards response for that

http://www.twinkietown.com/2009/1/31/743523/total-run-accounting-or-t

If you don’t believe in speed as a factor in scoring, I suggest you get some learnin’.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Feb 4, 2009 12:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It's funny

because you and I are on the same page as far as Wigginton goes. But I stand by my view that the idea of “clogging up the bases” is ridiculous, as if people getting on base is a bad thing. As far as that study goes, it’s nice and all, but until somebody proves it’s measuring repeatable skill, I won’t put much stock in it.

by DK on Feb 4, 2009 1:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Getting on base is good....

…but once you’re on base, it’s better to be able to take the extra base, avoid the DP and such than needing to play station to station because of a lack of speed. That’s all. Relative to Harris and even Buscher, Wiggy is S-L-O-W. So it’s just one way in which signing Wiggy would balance out the increase in power and diminish his overall value..

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Feb 4, 2009 3:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

OBP

Wiggington’s career OBP (.330) is about what you could expect from Harris (.330 career OBP) and Buscher (.335 career OBP). Last year, Wiggy’s OBP (.350) was inflated by Minute Maid. It was .390 at home and .316 on the road. And that was against NL pitchers. So I don’t think you could reasonably expect him to get on base more often than the platoon. Considering that he’d get on base at about the same clip as the platoon, his lack of speed would clog the bases up relative to the platoon, which is one of three factors that balances out the lack of power. Defense is the main factor: His defense is worse than Buscher and far worse than Harris.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Feb 4, 2009 3:11 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Like I said before

you and I are completely in agreement about Wigginton vs. Harr-scher, on every single point. You don’t have to argue with me about that. My problem with the phrase “clogging up the bases” is based in a much broader context than the Twins’ third base situation, since it’s generally used by old-school tools like Joe Morgan and Dusty Baker justifying their preference for fast guys who can’t get on base over slow guys who know how to take a walk.

Absolutely, in the context of this question, Wigginton could be said to be more of a “base-clogger” than Busch-is, for all the reasons you stated. Again, I completely agree with you about their relative values (look at my very first post in this thread). But, I’ve found the broader usage of the “base clogging” idea is so ridiculous, that I will question it every time I see it used.

by DK on Feb 4, 2009 4:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

OK

All things considered, I’d rather have a slow guy with a high OBP than a fast guy with a moderate OBP. Morgan’s fascination with guys like Jason Tyner, who typically had a batting average around .290 and an OBP of around .300 is a pet peeve of mine as well.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Feb 4, 2009 5:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I apologize

for busting on you. I think I meant that initial remark (mostly) in jest (although that pet peeve was underneath it). I think you and I agree on a lot more than we don’t.

by DK on Feb 5, 2009 12:07 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Harr-scher

I’ve usually been referring to them as Bridan Buschris, but I have to say, I think the sound of Bridan Harscher rolls off the tongue much better, and I like the edginess from sounding like “harsher”. I’m pretty set, though, on “Bridan” – I can’t come up with a better way to combine their first names.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Feb 5, 2009 2:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs