12/12: Wilkerson
Posted by: James
Man, those guys at NoMaas beat me to the punch. In their discussion of some players that could be possibly non-tendered today, they brought up Brad Wilkerson. Now, Wilkerson is a guy that I've I was going to mention as a good option for the Yankees for a couple reasons but first, I want to point out a salient point made by Nomaas:
On top of that, according to the Rate2 stat, Wilkerson actually plays a good first base, or at the very least, has played well in his 161 games there over his career. Now, all those games are spread out over several seasons so it would be a risk to assume he can do the same over the course of an entire season. Still, if he is available and cheap, it becomes a question of who do you think can outperform over the course of a full season, Andy Phillips or Brad Wilkerson.
He's a lefty and all the news outlets have reported the Yankees are in the market for a right-handed first baseman. However, have a look at this. Wilkerson has actually hit lefties better than righties during his career:
vs. LHP: .266 BA / .367 OBP / .446 SLG / .813 OPS
vs. RHP: .247 BA / .355 OBP / .449 SLG / .804 OPS
vs. LHP: .266 BA / .367 OBP / .446 SLG / .813 OPS
vs. RHP: .247 BA / .355 OBP / .449 SLG / .804 OPS
On top of that, according to the Rate2 stat, Wilkerson actually plays a good first base, or at the very least, has played well in his 161 games there over his career. Now, all those games are spread out over several seasons so it would be a risk to assume he can do the same over the course of an entire season. Still, if he is available and cheap, it becomes a question of who do you think can outperform over the course of a full season, Andy Phillips or Brad Wilkerson.