Add Jamey Wright To The Pile

The thing about assembling a giant pile of potential relievers is that, once the pile gets big enough, it'll start to weigh a lot and the players on the bottom of the pile will grow weak. Having weak players on the bottom means you may need more insurance, which means more players on the pile, which means more players growing weak, which means more players on the pile. There's really no stopping this snowball once it gets rolling, and the latest player thrown onto the heap is none other than Jamey Wright.

Wright, of course, was a Mariner for the final three months of last season, meaning he got much of the disappointment without the high expectations. He was anything but exciting and I honestly can't recall a single pitch he threw, but he appeared in 28 games, so he played a fairly significant role after coming over. And while I know the temptation is there to say that he was bad, he was actually just wild and okay. Jamey Wright didn't throw strikes, because Jamey Wright has never thrown strikes, but he generated so many groundballs that he was better than we'd probably give him credit for off the tops of our heads.

Jamey Wright isn't good. He doesn't pitch real well against righties. He doesn't pitch real well against lefties. He doesn't throw strikes. He doesn't miss bats. The lowest - the lowest - OBP against he's posted in a year is .337, when the league average OBP was .327, and the second-lowest OBP against he's posted in a year is .358. He isn't a reliever you want to see in a critical spot. But he's all right, and he's a veteran, and he's familiar, and he'll compete with the other guys, and on and on and whatever. He might make the team, he might not make the team, and if he does make the team, there's no guarantee he'll still be on the team by May. He's a 36-year-old non-roster invitee.

So treat this news with the proper level of indifference. About the most interesting thing I can say about Jamey Wright, other than the fact that he looks 17, is that this could be the year he breaks into the top 25 all-time in hit batsmen. Wright's currently tied for 30th with Howard Ehmke and, hilariously, Greg Maddux. Chan Ho Park looms one away, and one above him is Kevin Brown. So we could be in line for a bit of minor history.