Musings from an Optimistic Redbird Fan

Cards obtain utility man – The St. Louis Cardinals signed Ty Wigginton to a two year contract today. If you recall, Wigginton was a member of the Cardinals farm system in 2004. He has since then played for the NY Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies, Tampa Bay and most recently the Philadelphia Phillies. Last year with the Phillies, he hit .235 with 11 homers in 360 at bats. He has a career batting average of .263. The most obvious upside is that, Wigginton has played every position except pitching and catching.  He can also hit left handed pitching, sporting an on base percentage of .346 and a slugging percentage of .418. No offense to Mr. Wigginton but, I really don’t see this as an upgrade from Skip Schumaker. And on top of that…we’re paying him more money. I’ll discuss this more in tomorrow’s blog.

Keeping up with the Jones’ (Reds)? – I’m struggling to understand why the Cincinnati Reds acquisition of Shin-Soo Choo is supposed to be the answer in “burying” the Cardinals next season. I was thinking he was a player who hit over 30 homeruns and hit over .300. But, since 2010, he’s hit less than 25 homeruns during that time and he hit .283 last season. I understand he has some speed and he was injured and missed some games in 2011 but, I doubt he has the “it” factor that baseball pundits are claiming. And here’s the thing; with the exception of maybe professional basketball and hockey, baseball and football are sports where individual matchups don’t really matter. With the exception of facing different pitchers, baseball isn’t a one on one sport. How the players mesh with their teammates, perform on the field and follow management policy is more important, to the “team” than individual numbers. So for us to try and get a player with abilities as good as or better than Choo, isn’t necessary. It may make good headlines but, the reality is, how the team performs is what matters most. And, the Cardinals’ still have the better outfield; and I’m not counting the contributions that outfielder Oscar Taveras will make next year.

New Assistant Hitting Coach – According to MLB Network Radio, Bengie Molina has accepted the Assistant Hitting Coach position with the Cardinals. Molina is the older brother of Yadier. He will be assisting the Cardinals’ new Hitting Coach, John Mabry. If you recall, Big Mac took the same job with the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier to be closer to his home and family. It’s nice to have another Molina with the Cardinals. Let’s see how much of a difference Bengie’s presence will have on Yadi’s performance next season.

That’s all folks..thanks for reading. Have a nice weekend.