Former Pirate (and former Yankee although I think the less said about that to Yankees fans the better) Craig Wilson signed a one-year contract with the Atlanta Braves.
Brilliant! ZiPS has Wilson projected at .255/.344/.478 as a Yankee, and LaRoche at .279/.346/.535 as a Brave. I imagine Wilson's projection will be higher in Atlanta. The Braves get a good, cheap approxmation for LaRoche in Wilson, and upgrade their bullpen while they're at it.
Not a bad trick. Personally I'd take Wilson back in the Bronx over Stinky Minky any day, but the Yanks are flush with righty-hitting 1Bs right now and Craig failed to pass the audition. I expect he'll make Cashman regret it before the year's out.
I know that Wilson is useless defensively, and performed poorly after being traded to New York, but it seems to me that there must be something else that GMs know about Wilson - something like a chronic injury, or scouts noting that his bat had slowed - that severely drove down his value. Otherwise, this seems to be absurdly cheap for someone who ZIPS sees as a significantly better hitter than Piazza ($8.5M), Gonzalez ($7.35M), or Hillenbrand ($6.5M).
Craig Wilson - 2 million
I'm confused.
It's almost like the Pirates traded Wilson for LaRoche, except they also had to give up Gonzo. How silly.
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