The Pirates have benched shortstop Jack Wilson in favor of Jose Castillo for the time being, and Pirate fans are quite pleased with the decision. Wilson, 29, is signed through 2009. Here’s his contract situation:
2007: $5.25MM
2008: $6.5MM
2009: $7.25MM
2010: $8.4MM club option with $0.6MM buyout
Limited no-trade clause: Wilson can block trades to six teams each season
Is Wilson a $7MM player? He is if you really like his defense. Yahoo’s Tim Brown spoke to a baseball man who seemed to think there would be interest in Wilson. I don’t know. His defense had better be really, really good to put up with a sub-.700 OPS. Cesar Izturis could do that, and the Cubs probably won’t exercise his $5.45MM option for ’08.
I was going to list some possible suitors here but I can’t really think of any teams in need of an overpriced, all-glove/no-hit starting shortstop.
