Orioles sign Ty Wigginton to a 2 year deal

[LA2]

Wow that came out of nowhere.

Well, there were reported discussions earlier and lots of speculation re Wigginton. I'm just relieved that we now have another right-handed hitter with decent power who can spell Mora and platoon with Huff--I was going batso trying to come up with a serious lineup that wd adhere to the O's preference for alternating righties and lefties.

I guess b/c I haven't watched much of either, they're similar in age, have similar power numbers, and both played down in Florida, I sometimes confuse Josh Willingham and Ty Wigginton.

[PapaRick]

Roch quoted McPhail yesterday as saying:

"We always are looking," MacPhail said. "We never say we're done. I think that would be foolish. We're always looking and we'll see how it goes. We still have ongoing discussions with a lot of players out there. But I don't have anything on the horizon right now."

So either this came out of nowhere (not ususally McPhail's style), the quote was referring only to starting pitchers, or Rodenthal is be a little quick on the draw by saying we "signed" him.

[TCAlumni9700]

Why not? If Snyder fizzles out and is not ready by 2010, it's either Wiggington at 3B or bring Mora back. Heck, AM could still bring Mora back for another year anyway. That's flexibility, which is AM's plan.

I'm all about the flexibility and having someone there in case Snyder doesn't pan out, I just see a drop off between Me-Mo and Wigg. This guy has bounced around quite a bit, no?

Overall though, I like the signing. Just curious to see what the next move is.

[TCAlumni9700]

Could we possibly be shipping Luke to SD? Love to see a package with him and a prospect or two for Headley.

[Mashed Potatoes]

2008 OPS:

Home: 1.080

Away: .697

For his career he does have an .878 OPS vs. LHP, so he's a decent platoon hitter.

He looks like a terrible fielder according to UZR/150.

As a 1B in

2006, -6.8

2007, -16.5

As a 3B in

2005, -52.6

2006, -31.2

2007, -12.8

2008, -3.2

Perhaps he's improved over the years as the numbers indicate, but even in his best year he's hurting the team with his defense.

[notfast]

Definitely gives us a TON of options

Scott/Pie in LF

Huff/Mora/Wiggington 3B

Huff/Wiggington 1B

Huff/Mora/Wigginton/Scott/Pie DH?

Huff or Scott will have to be moved. Id love to see Huff traded but I doubt their are too many suitors.

I really don't understand this move, unless another is done...

[McNulty]

Good move. Now they dont have to carry BOTH Freel and Gomez.

Who is the back up shortstop? I don't think you can trust Wigginton or Freel there, even for a game or two.

[DrungoHazewood]

This is somewhat puzzling. Almost has to be a precursor to another deal or two or three. Are they really going to carry Freel, Wigginton, Gomez, and a backup catcher? That means a 12-man staff. And three guys who technically are able to play all four infield spots, but in reality all are streched in the middle infield.

Really hope this isn't the full time solution to 3B for 2010. Wigginton is 31, 32 in 2010. He's a career .760 OPS guy against righties and on the road. He'd really have to overshoot his likely projections to be an average third baseman. His defensive numbers at third aren't good. Anybody who just expects Wigginton to repeat his 2008 numbers for a couple years is probably a little misguided - he had a massive split in Houston, and the NL Central isn't the AL East.

There are ways I can see this as a great move - if they use him as a platoon guy, and spot him in the lineup mostly against lefties, get him 300-400 PAs max. They could sit Scott and Huff against some lefties, matchup the defense with the type of pitcher on the mound, and really get a big plus with Freel and Wigginton in the lineup. If they just plug Freel and Wigginton in whenever without respect to matchups neither is going to be a plus at all.

In limited appearances he does have some decent numbers as a DH/PH, so that's a small plus.

[NewMarketSean]

I'm all about the flexibility and having someone there in case Snyder doesn't pan out, I just see a drop off between Me-Mo and Wigg. This guy has bounced around quite a bit, no?

Overall though, I like the signing. Just curious to see what the next move is.

It all depends which Mora shows up in 2009 and whether he could even keep it going into 2010. My bet is that Mora drops down a bit from 2009 and then 2010 is when the bottom drops out.

Don't get me wrong, Wiggington is not A-Rod or Rolen... but he's a decent stop-gap type player who can actually post decent numbers while he's here, may even be a decent trade bait, and that is a nice change of pace from the Seguis, Cruzs, and Singleton's of the world.

[Nick The Stick]

I have a strong feeling that Scott is being moved back to the NL now. A team like ATL or SD...

[clapdiddy]

I don't understand Rosenthal's comment about Gomez not making the team. I guess he doesn't realize that we don't have a backup shortstop without him.

[TCAlumni9700]

It all depends which Mora shows up in 2009 and whether he could even keep it going into 2010. My bet is that Mora drops down a bit from 2009 and then 2010 is when the bottom drops out.

Don't get me wrong, Wiggington is not A-Rod or Rolen... but he's a decent stop-gap type player who can actually post decent numbers while he's here, may even be a decent trade bait, and that is a nice change of pace from the Seguis, Cruzs, and Singleton's of the world.

I agree. Baseball-reference had him compared with Joe Crede and Morgan Ensberg to name a few, so I'm good with that.

[DrungoHazewood]

Who is the back up shortstop? I don't think you can trust Wigginton or Freel there, even for a game or two.

I think it's plausible that any of Freel, Gomez, or Wigginton could play there. At Gomez' age you can't just assume he's a better defender than the other two. You're just going to have to accept that whoever is there is a huge step down from Izturis with the glove. Gotta hope that for 30 games or whatever that their offense makes up for the lack of defense.

I have to think there's a chance Gomez just gets cut. He's a .625-.650 OPS guy in his late 30s who's main calling card is maybe average defense at SS. His numbers at 2B are pretty poor lately.

[DrungoHazewood]

I don't understand Rosenthal's comment about Gomez not making the team. I guess he doesn't realize that we don't have a backup shortstop without him.

Sure we do. Just not a defense-only shortstop like Juan Castro. Izturis is that guy, and he's the starter. Why not have the backup be a bat?

[PapaRick]

I wonder if the plan is to go back to the Earl Weaver days of playing everybody on the bench at least once a week.

With Freel, Wigginton, Gomez and backup catcher as the bench, I can see Trembley resting guys liberally, including Roberts and Markakis. Could this be part of the plan to stem the late season declines we have been experiencing. I know most of that has been from pitching collapse, but maybe the plan is to stock Norfolk with arms and have a more flexible bench.