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August 17, 2006
Wilkerson DL'ed, Out For Season
Yesterday, Texas placed outfielder BRAD WILKERSON on the 15-day Disabled List and recalled outfielder FREDDY GUZMAN from AAA Oklahoma.
Well it wasn’t supposed to work out that way. The keystone of the Alfonso Soriano trade batted a meager .222/.306/.422 and gave up on his sore shoulder with six weeks remaining. I loved the trade at the time. There are worse ways to embarrass myself, I suppose.
In his first twenty games, Wilkerson struck out in an ungodly 40% of his plate appearances (34 of 85) and often seemed utterly helpless at the plate. No, strikeouts don’t normally hurt more than any other type of out, but Wilkerson certainly didn’t endear himself to fans with his frequent whiffing despite leading the team in homers for much of the season. Only in May (.293/.414/.598) did he avoid dragging down the offense.
Texas management now faces the uncomfortable decision of whether to offer Wilkerson arbitration. He earned $3.9 million this season. My guess is that the Rangers cut bait.
Posted by Lucas at August 17, 2006 05:35 PM