Phillies trade for Wigginton
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Phillies trade for Wigginton
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
Questions about the durability of Ryan Howard and Placido Polanco will dominate much of this winter and spring training. Ruben Amaro Jr. has maintained his faith publicly in those two players staying healthy, but when a trade for Ty Wigginton presented itself, the Phillies general manager acquired an insurance policy.
"I don't think we had to [make the trade]," Amaro said. "But this was the right fit for us."
The Phillies traded a player to be named later or cash to the Colorado Rockies for Wigginton, a 34-year-old utility bat. Wigginton is due to make $4 million in 2012 and has a $4 million team option for 2013 with a $500,000 buyout.
The Denver Post reported that the two teams will split the cost of Wigginton's 2012 salary. If the Phillies exercise his option, the teams would exchange a player or more cash. The Rockies agreed on a predetermined list of minor leaguers from which to choose.
Amaro said Wigginton, who has played six positions in his 10-year career, projects to mostly being a corner infielder for the Phillies. He hit .245 with a .731 OPS in 2011 but has slugged at least 15 home runs in five of his last six seasons.
"We've actually talked about Ty for years," Amaro said. "We've talked about him as a third baseman in the past. We've talked about him as a utility guy in the past. We had some discussions with the agents in the past. We just feel like this gives us a different look on the bench and on our club. Who knows how much he'll play, but at least he's a guy who can fill in for an extended period of time."
Effectively, Wigginton allows the Phillies to carry another bat with power potential on the bench and eliminates the need for two light-hitting utility players in Wilson Valdez and Michael Martinez. Now, the Phillies will probably keep only one of those two at the major-league level.
Amaro said the acquisition of Wigginton does not preclude the Phillies from signing another bat in addition to re-signing Jimmy Rollins, which remains the top priority. The Phillies like Michael Cuddyer, but a baseball source said they are turned off by his current asking price of three years.
Said Amaro: "We're still looking at our options."
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very solid guy to be a versatile offensive player with some pop coming off the bench or playing on a p/t basis. good pick up— TheLon- Excellent move that will get no attention until the season starts. Wigginton is a SOLID player pretty much all around and an excellent consistent offensive player. He's versatile too. I actually wanted them to trade for him when Utley got hurt at the break in 2010.— evanbaseball
- Wiggington is hardly an excellent consistent player.....career OBP of .325 (~0.314 the last 3 years).
Plus he stinks defensively. Though, 2 million for Wiggington is better than 10 million a year for 3 years for Cuddyer.— TeamAwesome - Mistake to sign Cuddyer for 3 years. This might work. He has to hit better than Martinez— Ssteve115
- With his rule 5 stint done, Martinez is going to the minors unless he sets the world on fire in spring training. Personally, I think he benefits from more regular playing time and he's available for call-up if someone gets hurt.
Wigginton is a better bat with a lot of the same defensive versatility.— s - We need to move past the defensive versatility thing. Being able to play multiple positions poorly (or at least not very well) isn't something that's really attractive.
— TeamAwesome - I agree, but their infield contracts pretty much have them stuck with Howard, Utley and Polanco for 2012. I can't see any way we possibly trade any of those guys. So the best you can really do is get a short-term guy to take some playing time from a guy like Polanco and from Howard while he's out.
SS will be the interesting move.
Wigginton doesn't excite me too much though, so I see your point. If RAJ had brought some up-and-coming riskier younger player in I'd probably be more excited. This older player thing is (excuse the pun) getting old.
— s - Yea I agree with you. As a short term it's fine, and as I said above, it saves us from a longer term more expensive Cuddyer deal.
- I was never sold on Cuddyer. Good enough player but not for the price and particularly not for multiple years. I think you get through 2012 then look at a major upgrade at third base.
The side story here is without signing Cuddyer they have money to make more than the SS move. Or to make a big SS move like Reyes. That's where it gets interesting. We hope.— s - Sort of worried how this is going to affect Bowker. Sure hope this move for Wigginton doesn't cut into Bowker's playing time...— Sam Crow
- They'll probably keep Bowker's raw power under wraps until the post-season again. You can't mess around with that kind of dangerous power unleashed too early in the season.
— s - Sure hope D. Brown is on that "predetermined list of minor leaguers from which to choose." Maybe Colorado will do us a favor and take that chick off our hands...— Sam Crow
- At 1/5th the potential cost of Cuddyer, this move is a no brainer, even if he is a slightly less player. He also played for losers his whole career so maybe he'll improve surrounded this environment.— ronin32
- I think that player to be named later is probably Ben Francisco. Ben had great warning track power here in Philadelphia - in Colorado those ball would be out of the park.
Makes me a little suspicious of Ty's power statistics. Regardless, I prefer the trade rather than spending a fortune on Cuddyer.— candidly - Wigginton only played last year in Colorado. Prior to that he was all around: Orioles, Astros, Rays, Pirates and Mets.
— s
