Friday, November 25, 2011

Why did the Phillies want Ty Wiggington?

The Phillies traded for Ty Wiggington from the Rockies. They only gave cash considerations or perhaps a player to be named later, but still I feel myself asking why the Phillies would do this. Wiggington is going to make 4 million dollars in 2012 (not to mention whatever amount of money the Phillies end up giving), which would necessitate a 1.3 WAR according to the Halladay Standard. The problem is that he has only done that once, in 2008, where he had a 2.4 WAR. In 2011, he had a -1.1 WAR, in fact, over the past 3 years, he has averaged a -.93 WAR. So the Phillies have decided to trade for a below replacement player and give a whole bunch of money for him. Wiggles is an awful defender, with a career -11.2 D-WAR, and below average Range Factor at every position he has ever played (and he has played nearly every position). His career offensive numbers look like this: .325 OBP, 100 OPS, 1.743 O4S, and 2.84 PAPP. These are all profoundly average numbers, and certainly not the cure to a struggling offense. His offensive winning percentage is .490, with 4.8 runs created per game. His PPS is just 87.05, and he is an below average walker at 7.3%. He is a bit of a masher at a 3.5 home run percentage and 8.9% extra base hitter, but his overall inefficiencies probably wash this out. When one wonders why the Phillies can't finish things out despite having such an amazing pitching staff, one needs to look no further than moves like this. They pay tons of money for an average hitter and horrible fielder.

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