Ty Wigginton has signed a two-year deal to play for the Baltimore Orioles.
First, the negatives. Wigginton plays various positions (1B, 2B, 3B and OF) but doesn't play any of them particularly well, save for the corner outfield spots.
Even though he had a good year for Houston last year, he has basically been a league average bat over the course of his career.
His career OBP is .330.
He'll reportedly make $3 million per season for the next two years.
All that said, given his projected role, the signing will probably improve the team.
Why? He hits lefties very well and the Orioles needed someone to put in the lineup against C.C. Sabathias, Scott Kazmir and the other tough lefties Baltimore will have to face this year. Against LHP, Wigginton's line is .288/.364/.514 and in 2008 it was .340/.424/.631 . He'll go a long way to offset the weaknesses of Luke Scott and Aubrey Huff against lefthanded pitching.
He'll spell Melvin Mora in the field.
He'll likely push Chris Gomez off the roster. The fewer AB's that Gomez gets, the better this team is. (Baltimore will already be giving 600+ AB to Cesar Izturis...we can't afford anymore "good glove, bad bat" guys in the lineup...) In 2008, Gomez was a guy who played a lot of positions but none of them particularly well and he can't hit his way out of a wet paper bag.
So to recap, if this move prevents Gomez from making the 25-man roster and if Dave Trembley deploys him correctly (mostly against lefties), he'll be a useful player for the next couple seasons.
It'll be interesting to plug him into the WAR spreadsheet...
The position versatility is pretty handy.
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