Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Yankees have had six different players man third base for them this season. Kevin Youkilis, Jayson Nix, Chris Nelson, Alberto Gonzalez, Luis Cruz, David Adams and even Vernon Wells have manned the hot corner at times for the Yankees this season. Alex Rodriguez is currently rehabbing from his second hip surgery but who knows if he will be healthy enough to contribute and at what level. The Yankees need insurance at third and also at first base where the Yankees recently added Travis Ishikawa.
One option recently became available after the St. Louis Cardinals released infielder Ty Wigginton. Wigginton, 35, has been connected to Yankees trade rumors in the past but nothing has ever come to fruition.
Wigginton is not young by any means and he was hitting just .158/.238/.193 this season. However, he only appeared in 47 games and accumulated 57 at-bats so you can’t really judge his season based on such a small sample size. Last season Wigginton hit only .235/.314/.375 with 11 homers and 43 RBI and he hasn’t hit above .250 since 2009 so his numbers have obviously been trending downward for a little while now. Given what the Yankees have trotted out at third base Wigginton might be worth a look.
The cost for Wigginton wouldn’t be cost prohibitive for the Yankees and obviously wouldn’t cost them any prospects. Beggars can’t be choosers and right now the Yankees are on the beggar’s side of things. If Wigginton has anything left he might be able to give the Yankees a boost for a couple of weeks. Nobody would expect him to come in and start hitting the cover off of the ball but maybe he can provide an upgrade offensively over what the Yankees are currently putting on the field.
Wigginton is a right-handed bat who has hit .267/.351/.451 in his career against left-handed pitching so he could form a platoon at third, first, and the outfield giving manager Joe Girardi some options. It can’t hurt for the Yankees to take a look and see what is left in the tank.
