Community Projection: Brad Wilkerson
by Jeff Sullivan on Dec 7, 2008 6:57 PM PST
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PrintThe eighth in a non-alphabetical and irregularly updated series of review pieces for each(?) of the players we predicted last spring.
LL/USSM Community: .253/.340/.441
Actual Line: .232/.348/.304 with Seattle, .220/.308/.326 overall
In his rookie season, Brad Wilkerson batted .205/.304/.325. Last year, he batted .220/.308/.326. I'm not saying his career is totally finished, but we are a people who yearn for symmetry, so it wouldn't really come as a shock. That's pretty much the perfect bookend.
I'm not sure what there is to say about Wilkerson. He was here for a month, he sucked, and he went away to suck somewhere else. It's not like we didn't all know from the beginning what we were getting ourselves into. Wilkerson was a low-reward/medium-risk free agent at whom Bavasi only looked because he was one of the last right fielders left on the market when the team had a need. His upside was as a league-average corner guy with decent power and patience, and his downside was as a $3m doorstop. After 68 trips to the plate, it became apparent that he was a doorstop, so he was sent off on his doorstoppy way, never to be thought of again. His only legacies are the expression "Bradtastic!" and a confirmation that Seattle is where careers go to die.
Wilkerson was advertised as a guy with two tools, but when a broken-down body sapped him of his power, only the ability to draw a walk remained, and even that started to disappear down the stretch as pitchers came to realize he no longer posed a threat. If he is to find another Major League job, it'll be because his agent pitched him to the Braves as a pinch-hitting alternative to Jeff Francoeur should he ever come up in a clutch situation against Barry Zito. Other than that, I just can't picture an organizational meeting where everyone's kind of sitting around the table quietly and looking at each other and then the assistant GM perks up and says "I know! Brad Wilkerson!" Unless they're playing No-Talent Pile Of Crap Trivial Pursuit. Sometimes meetings are fun.
Brad, you had a nice little run there for a few seasons, but unless something crazy takes place, it would appear that your time as a useful player in the Major Leagues has come to an end. We shall remember you only as a warning for what could befall Russell Branyan. Come 2010, you will mean nothing to us.
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oh come on
We’re two comments into this thread and no one’s designed some sort of horrid Cockrell-related Photoshop?
Sports and Bremertonians. Because we can.
Not saying we should have kept him,
but it’s just classic Mariner decision-making that the guy who gets run out of town is one of the only guys in the lineup with an above-average OBP.
On the day Wilkerson got shit-canned:
Wilkerson: .232 /.348 /.304
Jose Vidro: .209 /.270 /.330
One of those guys just wasn’t getting it done and had to go, because dammit this team is going to contend this year. The other guy was the designated hitter who would in the coming months be installed in the cleanup spot for a few games.
I blame the media
they made us hopeful. Also, 2008 was.. how do you put it…
The Perfect Suck, By Sebastian Junger.
A tale of how several unrelated and somewhat random events combined to turn what was already likely to be an unsuccessful wild card bid into a six month long ugh during which every Mariner fan never quite got the taste of bile out of their mouth.
by Bearskin Rugburn on Dec 7, 2008 9:23 PM PST up reply actions
That projection was crazy from the beginning
by Jeff Sullivan on Dec 7, 2008 9:23 PM PST up reply actions
I meant to mention this, but yeah, what JI said.
I thought it was a bit optimistic, but I didn’t expect a sub-.400 SLG.
These posts need more mocking of specific individuals projections
I am scared that my projection was dangerously retarded.
by JI on Dec 7, 2008 9:46 PM PST up reply actions
I honestly try to lowball every projection
I have a feeling I failed
by JI on Dec 7, 2008 9:56 PM PST up reply actions
To do that I'd have to go back and open the original documents which I don't want to do
by Jeff Sullivan on Dec 7, 2008 10:20 PM PST up reply actions
Easier than thinking of something to write about!
by JI on Dec 7, 2008 10:25 PM PST up reply actions
That's not really what I'm going for here
by Jeff Sullivan on Dec 7, 2008 10:25 PM PST up reply actions
At least I don't give bad advice about how not to repeat adjectives.
by JI on Dec 7, 2008 10:28 PM PST up reply actions
Would you like my opinion on how to make Tuesdays With Sean Green
actually funny?
by JI on Dec 7, 2008 10:32 PM PST up reply actions
In retrospect if Brad Wilkerson would have done that
he’d have been as valuable as Ibanez
Determined, Jonesing Commentor | Proud proprietor of Washingtonhighways.org
I think that the community gives a good job of giving the
75% projections and not actually the average production
And that's when we were all pessimists
I’m afraid of what next year’s projections might show.
by Jeff Sullivan on Dec 7, 2008 11:36 PM PST up reply actions
I remember when I plowed through the projections two years ago
and if I reduced the RS by 10% and increased the RA by 10% I think the numbers started to make sense.
by Edgar for Pres on Dec 8, 2008 10:10 AM PST up reply actions
Remember when the Nationals traded Wilkerson to the Rangers for Alfonso Soriano, and a majority of commentators confidently declared that the Nats had gotten hosed on the deal?
Because I sure as fuck do. Now to be fair there was a lot of drama w/r/t getting Soriano to switch from 2B (where he was a giant black hole of defensive suck) to LF (where he was actually a very good defender in his year with the Nats, though he’s since regressed. But that year he put up for an otherwise boring Nationals team (40/40, a classic 3 HR game against the Braves, some hilarious defensive adventures in LF), plus the draft pick he gave us in return, were a huge steal for the club. (The pick turned into Jordan Zimmermann, one of the Nats’ best pitching prospects. And those who faulted the Nats for not trading Soriano at midseason deadline need to realize that there were no offers on the table that were nearly as good as the 1 or 2 draft picks we got for letting him walk.)
As for Wilkerson, I knew he was going to be a bust wherever he went. I know it’s impolitic to float such things, but Nats/Expos fans have been well aware of rumors that Wilkerson was a major juicer, and that this is where his power came from. He went off of it and he immediately started getting injured and losing his pop. Getting much of ANYTHING of value for him would have been a job well done. Getting Soriano – and turning that into a great record-achieving season for a fledgling team plus a winner of a draft pick – was a giant dollop of gravy. I pitied the M’s when they signed him. I knew he would continue to be the lemon that he had been for the previous season or so: it wasn’t about injury, it was about true talent level.
Patriotism, Pepper, Professionalism
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