The Orioles signed Ty Wigginton to a 2-Year deal yesterday that pays 6 million over the course of the contract.
Now, Wigginton always seems to put up solid numbers here and there, especially when he has multiple position eligibility. Last year as a Houston Astro, Wigginton lost his second base eligibility and only retained 3B (82G) and OF (30G).
With Wigginton, you’re getting about 20+ HR to go with a .275 to .280 average — which sits pretty damn well. His R and RBI totals will really depend on where he hits in the line-up, but he’s a solid contributer.
The problem lies in Baltimore, not with Wiggy. Right now, Baltimore has plenty of guys that fill almost all of Wigginton’s positions. Nick Markakis has a lock on the right field job and it looks as though Adam Jones is set in center-field barring any unforeseen disasters.
Felix Pie is penciled in as the left fielder of choice, with Luke Scott (last years left fielder) as his back-up. This doesn’t leave Wigginton too many options in the outfield.
The infield brings with it even fewer options: Melvin Mora is not moving from third, and after Aubrey Huff’s ridiculous 2008 campaign, it looks as though he’s set as the first baseman.
This leaves Wigginton battling Luke Scott for the primary DH role, on most days. Wigginton is a righty, and Scott is a lefty — so thats a start. Wigginton kills left handed pitching, with an career OPS of almost .900 against them. This to go along with his 1.055 OPS last year against lefties.
Luke Scott has eerily similiar career splits, posting just about a .900 OPS agaisnt righties.
So far so good, but this completely discounts newly acquired Ryan Freel. Normally, You’d assume Wigginton woiuld pick up the slack around the diamond starting at LF, 2B, 3B, even 1B if someone gets hurt which would allow Ty Wigginton to get to a reasonable number of AB and contribute to your fantasy squad. However with Freel stealing some of those AB, Wigginton’s value dips.
Even if Felix Pie flops, Ty Wigginton has still lost his second base eligibility so his value as a fantasy player has pretty much went out the window.
The best you can hope for is an injury, and a fulltime gig which will allow Ty Wiggington to put up serviceable third-base numbers in deeper leagues.
