Josh Willingham?

[Schwarber Fan]

unlikely to return to A's

 

I've always liked this guy... solid power and RBI numbers... I know we don't exactly have room in the OF, but I think he'd be an upgrade over Byrd, definitely much more of a power threat... put him in RF with Jackson in center and Soriano in left. Go get Fielder/Pujols, trade for Headley and we get:

 

Castro

Barney

Willingham

Fielderjols

Soto

Soriano

Headley

Jackson

P

 

thoughts?

[inari]

Wow, I'm surprised he has been consistently good for so long now.

 

Still, why bring up his RBI numbers?

[pitchcs]

Big fan of Willingham, but where does he play unless Soriano gets moved?

[jersey cubs fan]

could play DH in interleague and World Series, not sure where else during rest of season.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

Good player, but no defensive fit here and he might get overpaid. He's basically a solid starter type 2-3 WAR player and he'll be 33 next year.

[davell]

He's also a Type A free agent. While it looks like he's leaving, they'll offer arb. I'm not willing to give up a pick for him. Not enough of a difference maker.

[Clem Fandango]

He's also a Type A free agent. While it looks like he's leaving, they'll offer arb. I'm not willing to give up a pick for him. Not enough of a difference maker.

 

This. I like Willingham, but he's getting old and with his big year he's going to want bigger dollars and years on his contract. If I'm going to overpay for anyone in his mid 30's, I'd make it Albert Pujols and end the list there.

[Little Slide Rooter]

His defense in the negative WAR, and since once of Hoyers main keys was defense, I wouldn't expect any interest.

[Schwarber Fan]

Wow, I'm surprised he has been consistently good for so long now.

 

Still, why bring up his RBI numbers?

 

I guess because he's played on some pretty bad teams and still drove in runs.

 

Didn't realize how brutal he was in the field.

[RynoRules]

I loved Willingham three years ago. Now I don't see where he fits, and he's probably going to be slowly regressing over the next few seasons.

[Mark Priors Calves]

Len Kasper was just advocating him as a possible pickup from the Cubs.

[RynoRules]

I took another look and started to like the idea of getting him if we can move Soriano or Byrd.

 

But then I looked at his H/R splits from last year and they strike me as weird. His slugging was actually better in Oakland than it was on the road. His overall slugging % was down but he had 29 HR's. His K rate was up.

 

On the more sophisticated side, his oWAR was 2.3, but his dWAR was -0.5. BAbip / tOPS+ / sOPS+ = .287 /100/ 123.

 

Crap, I don't know. Maybe I need to reverse myself? Does he make sense if the years and money are right (2 years at $7 million each, 3rd at club option with raise to $9; $1.5 million buyout)? Plus we have to be able to trade Soriano and/or Byrd so we can make room for him and Jackson?

 

I dunno. The OF situation confuses me.

[davell]

If Oakland doesn't offer him arb, I'm all for it. If they do, stay away, because he's not worth losing a pick over. He's older and he's declining. Not the type of guy Theo said we'd be targeting at all anyway.

[Guest]

At the right price, he'd be a fabulous depth guy.

 

1) he won't be available at that price

2) he's not worth a pick

[Post Count Padder]

He's fairly consistent, has decent power and walks a lot. But he'll require a pick, will likely want a three-year deal, isn't getting any younger and some other team will overpay for him.