He was an all-star in 2010. But that doesn't mean you can't be in decline during the season. "SEE Furcal"

I dont think it's as bad as many think. Some might be worried that he may block someone but we needed a vet with a little pop in the worse way.

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--- TCRedbird wrote:

619illinibooyah wrote:

crdswmn wrote: Awful signing.  Just awful.

Why? Hey I'd rather have Cody Ross but apparently he's too rich for our blood.


I said if we didn't sign a minf or trade for one I'd take a guy who could play the corner OF and some inf. Ross was my first choice but Wigginton is a decent plan B. He's a tad older but can backup all corner OF and inf spots and has played 2nd(not since 2010). He also has some pop although his OPS was awful last season. Let's Hope Mabry works with him.

We weren't paying 5 million a year for a guys who's going to get 400PA. So if you had those expectations sorry but it wasn't happening.

Cause he has been declining for 4 years now.  He is not any good at all, yet Mo dropped 2.5mil per for this piece of garbage, it was yet another worthless signing by Mo.  It is easy to see FA is not a strong suit of his at all.

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Not thrilled with this signing either.  Mostly agree with the negative comments, and to make matters worse, he takes our last roster spot.  If Aledmis Diaz gets a major league contract, it will almost certainly come from another organization.

I won't criticize Mo, or the owners though... they have kept us competitive.  Just hope they know what they are doing on this one.

Not excited with adding Wigginton.  Too expensive for me.  I would have earmarked Eugenio Velez for that bench spot.  He may have been Memphis' best position player in 2012.  Also would have surveyed the final ML roster cuts in late March to see if a better fit became available.

The less the better.  A release in spring training would be best of all, but that won't happen thanks to the foolish five million dollar overcommitment.

Carpenter is far better.  Wigginton gets worse every year and wears out his welcome quickly.

In 2012 Wigginton OPS .688, Schumaker OPS .707.

I know, vs LHP a different story, but just to get perspective of what kind of "pop" we're talking about here.

blingboy wrote: In 2012 Wigginton OPS .688, Schumaker OPS .707.

I know, vs LHP a different story, but just to get perspective of what kind of "pop" we're talking about here.

If you want to evaluate a player's pop it would help if you actually looked at power statistics. 

Wigginton's HRs 2012 11
Schumaker'S             1

Wigginton's ISO 2012 .140
Schumaker's              .092

Wigginton's Slugging 2012 .375
Schumaker's            2012 .368

I'm not fond of this move, but lets not start pretending that Schumaker has more power than Wigginton...

My point was our new bat off the bench OPSs less than Skip. Could have made the point a different way, I admit.

Two things I'm mulling over:

1) The Cards will not be quick to eat the contract. At $2.5 per, he will get playing time no matter how bad he turns out to be. Maybe he'll have a resurgance. I truly hope so.

2) I can't imaginge how/why we could possibly need a Ty Wigginton in 2014.

blingboy wrote: My point was our new bat off the bench OPSs less than Skip. Could have made the point a different way, I admit.

Two things I'm mulling over:

1) The Cards will not be quick to eat the contract. At $2.5 per, he will get playing time no matter how bad he turns out to be. Maybe he'll have a resurgance. I truly hope so.

2) I can't imaginge how/why we could possibly need a Ty Wigginton in 2014.

Fair enough. You said "pop" in your previous post, that's what I was commenting on.

I agree with everything you say in this post.

DTFlush234 wrote: RH power and experience off the bench was a need. Wigginton fills that need. Plain and simple. Good move by Mozeliak.

A guy who hit .234 vs LHP isn't what I thought Mo was looking for, pop or no pop.

His 2012 line with RISP .192/,296/.295/.591

I would be willing to bet that much of his 'power' came against middle relief chumps when it didn't matter.  Haven't checked though. 

If he mans a position (god forbid), 2012 UZR/150 
1B -8.5
3B -39.3
LF -46.8

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--- blingboy wrote:

DTFlush234 wrote: RH power and experience off the bench was a need. Wigginton fills that need. Plain and simple. Good move by Mozeliak.

A guy who hit .234 vs LHP isn't what I thought Mo was looking for, pop or no pop.

His 2012 line with RISP .192/,296/.295/.591

I would be willing to bet that much of his 'power' came against middle relief chumps when it didn't matter.  Haven't checked though. 

If he mans a position (god forbid), 2012 UZR/150 
1B -8.5
3B -39.3
LF -46.

Very positive MO did his homework on Wigginton. Otherwise wouldn't of signed him nor shown any significant interest.
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For his career, Wigginton's best OPS seem to be in the second (.872) and seventh (.883) innings.

DTFlush234 wrote:
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--- blingboy wrote:

DTFlush234 wrote: RH power and experience off the bench was a need. Wigginton fills that need. Plain and simple. Good move by Mozeliak.

A guy who hit .234 vs LHP isn't what I thought Mo was looking for, pop or no pop.

His 2012 line with RISP .192/,296/.295/.591

I would be willing to bet that much of his 'power' came against middle relief chumps when it didn't matter.  Haven't checked though. 

If he mans a position (god forbid), 2012 UZR/150 
1B -8.5
3B -39.3
LF -46.

Very positive MO did his homework on Wigginton. Otherwise wouldn't of signed him nor shown any significant interest.
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So because on paper this appears to fill a need and because you think Mo did his homework it's a good signing?

If Mo signed Craig Paquette out of retirement for this slot would it be a good move? I mean on paper he fills this need and if Mo signed him he obviously would have done his homework. I mean GMs never make bad decisions even after intensely looking into a player.

I'm thinking Mo did his homework on Pedro Feliz too. I just don't get it, but we'll see. Since he's a Cardinal now I hope he does well.

What kind of WAR does he have to put up in 2013 to be worth $2.5M?

blingboy wrote: I'm thinking Mo did his homework on Pedro Feliz too. I just don't get it, but we'll see. Since he's a Cardinal now I hope he does well.

What kind of WAR does he have to put up in 2013 to be worth $2.5M?

Mark Reynolds 2012 was valued at about $2.5 Million per fangraphs. 

Bobby Abreu 2011 would be another comp.

About .5 or .6 WAR. Considering he plays such terrible defense he'd have to be pretty solidly above average at creating runs to be worth the salary. Over the last four years he's been worth about -$7 Million. 

Win values change from year to year. I'd estimate that a win in 2013 would be worth about $6.08 million (that's a crude estimate). He'd probably need to put up about a WAR of .4.

Thanks for the info stlcards. Mo probably thinks he's a fit with the character of the team or something like that.

Does he have a rep one way or the other as as far as a clubhouse guy, etc.?

No problem. Just remember that win to dollar values rarely match up with reality. They're estimate and kind of tough to determine given that not every player earns market value (read more here). In reality a player might be worth $2.5 million dollars in production given the win per dollars calculation for the given year, but his market causes his salary to be, say $5 Million. 

I don't know anything about Wigginton's clubhouse demeanor. All I know is that he's a marginal to terrible defender at every position he "plays", he hasn't a productive year for multiple seasons and he has slightly above average power.

I never liked the guy. I still remember when he lit up Molina at home plate 8 years ago, I've dislike him since. If he can revert back to his 2008 numbers I'd be thrilled, but I doubt that's likely given he's 35 years old and coming off of 4 poor seasons.

stlcards5129 wrote:
I never liked the guy. I still remember when he lit up Molina at home plate 8 years ago, I've dislike him since. If he can revert back to his 2008 numbers I'd be thrilled, but I doubt that's likely given he's 35 years old and coming off of 4 poor seasons.

As a bench player, he'll be fine.  And as for not liking him going back to 2004, just remember that we all used to hate Will Clark, too. ;-)