The Braves have agreed to re-sign shortstop Jack Wilson to a one-year deal, MLB.com's Mark Bowman tweets. The PSI Sports Management client will earn a $1MM base salary and could earn $500K more by reaching incentives, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (Twitter links).
Wilson, 34, hit .243/.274/.285 for the Mariners and Braves in 2011, appearing at second, short and third. Better known for his defense than for his offense, Wilson has a 5.0 UZR/150 for his career. He figures to back up prospect Tyler Pastornicky at short and could spell Chipper Jones at third base if necessary.
And here I didn’t think the Braves were going to sign any big name free agents…. Oh wait… Nevermind.
That’ll work
As a Braves fan I’m just thinking it could have been worse.
nice signing, braves. it won’t be wilson’s fault when they choke at the end of the year because he’ll have been on the dl for months
Phillies fan? I mean…your boys only got a step further than the Braves, right? NLCS, Ryan Howard tearing Achilles, right?
I GUESS that was worth 80 million more in payroll…
Just sayin…
Ryan’s go-ahead RBI’s in Game One were solid.
@Sam… didn’t Jack Wilson make a big error in game 162?
He sure did. Easy double play. And blow it, the Braves did. But no reason to talk smack like you guys ended up doin’ anything yourselves, right?
Its all good. A little healthy rivalry never hurt anyone.
Love a good rivalry. It’s why I wish the Mets weren’t awful.
If the Braves were healthy they wouldn’t have choked.
Both teams came up short, the only difference was one came up short a week later, so I agree, no use talking smack. Both teams should have been in the NLCS.
Hey , if any team is gonna win it all , I would much rather a team from our own division win it , like the Phillies . Both are teams are gonna be very good this year . The Phillies are really the only team that scares me in our division .
Florida makes me a little nervous.
they’ll do the same thing they do every year. They’ll compete for a while only to crash and burn mid-summer
Exactly .
i believe so. thank you
Hahaha…I can’t wait until baseball season.
This would be like me $%&* talking because the Falcons made the playoffs while the ‘Dream Team’…well…
Yeah Sam H your line-up is old and you will only compete bc of your pitching. The Phillies aren’t the same team from 08-09
i’m afraid you’re right. i try not to think about that
Good mentor for Pastornicky. Could have been a lot worse. #JulioLugoContract
Blech….was hoping they would sign Theriot.
Why? At least Wilson plays good defense and can back up Chipper.
I’m speaking, of course, as someone who had to deal with Theriot’s absurd attempts at playing shortstop for three years
Because I had to deal with watching Jack Wilson attempt to hit a baseball last year.
My sympathies, good sir. My sympathies.
That was A-Gon’s job. Jack Wilson’s was hitting it weakly.
I’d rather have Wilson off the bench and give Pastornicky a chance than having the front office pretend to fill the hole at short by having Theriot start.
I wouldn’t want Theriot to start. But they need more of a bat off the bench than Jack Wilson.
I was afraid that if they signed Theriot they would start him because he’s better regarded by fans and they have hinted that they don’t think Pastornicky is ready yet.
Hinske, Ross if Freddy used him. They got a couple options. Drew Sutton maybe?
I’ve always liked Jack Wilson. No one’s expecting him to come in and be Jose Reyes, but he’s a good mentor and seems like a good guy to have around a shortstop you’re trying to groom. The open letter he wrote to the Pirate’s Fanbase after he was traded was one of the classier moves I’ve seen in awhile.
Awesome name!!!
OK Cobby just keep sticking up for the Greg Nortons of the world.
As opposed to what, pray tell?
The Milton Bradleys, of course.
Spell Chipper at 3rd if necessary? You mean when necessary
so much negativity in the fan base of the braves…sheesh…the way some fans act we should have went out and traded for Tulo and then gave up the bank on Reyes to be our backup, but im sure people would still complain about that as well.
Wilson fits the mold perfectly for what we wanted, can play 2nd, short and third, and better yet he is Cheap. I like the signing!
I definitely like the signing. I think it’s an indication that they’re at least going to give pastornicky a shot. If Tyler even meets my, fairly low, expectations he’ll still be a slight upgrade over gonzalez and better than any one we could reasonably expect to get on the FA market or in a trade.
Seriously. Hes a nice backup to have. And for 1MM? Sounds like a good deal
I would have preferred a minor league deal. Wilson can’t hit a lick, and I’m not sure at his age if he is as good defensively as he once was. Don’t think that’s worth even a million bucks.
they want a mixture of Zimmerman, Tulo, & Cano’s abilities as their 1-player backup
In reply to: Brave Crowe
one can wish haha
Perfect signing for what they were looking for. I can’t wait to see Tyler play in person this spring.
should have traded for brendan ryan. wilson’s defense is not what it once was, and with a .243/.274/.285 slash it certainly does not compensate for the complete dearth of offense he supplies, not for a million dollar salary.
considering that was in limited duty, a .243/.274/.285 metric isn’t the worst possible array of stats. when healthy, and provided he stays that way throughout the season, jack is more than capable of hitting near a .260 batting average. not a bad signing for the bravos at all.
You guys applauding this move seem to forget that Jack Wilson will need to be a pinch hitter occasionally. The Braves have a horrifically weak bench and this signing weakens it further. I hope Drew Sutton beats out Wilson in Spring Training.
Is their bench really that weak? Ross and Hinske are two of the best players off the bench in the NL.
true, but sadly Fredi wont use Ross as PH…
There were too many perfect opportunities last year to use Ross and he didn’t.
or they could re-sign and caryy jc boscan……….. (that was a joke)
JC got himself a big hit one time
I really like Sutton and he still could have a spot on the bench, I’d trade Diaz and have my bench as Ross, Hinske, Sutton(who can play the OF as well), Wilson, Constanza/Durango
The Braves can revive Fan Fest with this signing! =P
Do I see the words “Braves sign…” be still my beating heart!!!! Welcome back Jack, I’ve always liked him 🙂
Hoo-ray . We finally made some news . I’m ok with it , I guess . Now we will have to wait and see if anything else happens with a trade or if we just stand pat . I didn’t expect the Uggla trade last year , so anything is possible .
I really wanted to see the Braves trade for Maicer Izturis but I guess this signing is a signal that there is no trade with the Angels for Izturis. Now is the time to start hoping that Pastornicky comes to the big leagues with some instant offense.
That would have been a great move. Maybe the Angels wanted too much in return or just weren’t willing to part with Izturis.
The Angels only wanted Martinez or Varvaro. The deal didn’t happen because of the Braves needing to move JJ or Prado to be able to take on Izturis contract. Izturis makes almost 4 mil (3.8 mil) this season and that is too rich for the Braves.
Well good defense….at least
meh, it’s not like there were a whole lot of choices for back-up SS anyway. Like him better than I do the other options (Yuni, Theriot, etc.).
Nooooooooooooooo!
Sincerely,
Braves Fans
I don’t love it either, but he’s a good glove and he only costs $1M. Don’t worry, he won’t reach any of those incentives. Look at it this way…between Wilson and Pastornicky, the Braves should get at least average production from the SS position for under $1.5M total.
What people don’t understand is that we don’t need to overhaul our roster. I want a move as much as the next Braves fan, but the major moves we needed were taken care of through the process of addition by subtraction (see: Derek Lowe, Nate McLouth). We were an extremely solid team until the final month of the season, and this with extremely poor seasons (relatively) from our 2010 MVP and Rookie of the Year. If they (Prado and Heyward for those still confused) even remotely come back and return to form, we’re an easy 90+ win team. The average fan sees all the moves of our opponents and wants an immediate major response. Thank goodness we don’t run the team. Wren knows what he’s doing. The players just have to put it together.
Go Braves 2012
Agreed
Remember when Frank Wren DIDN’T trade for Jake Peavy? As I recall most fans wanted him and Frank stuck to his guns. Sometimes the moves you don’t make are just as good as the ones you do make.
The players are in place, they just need to produce up to their skill level. And if last year is any indication, we’ll need all the pitching we can get. As for Prado specifically, dealing him would reek of the Kelly Johnson situation –having a bad year, so he’s cast away, only to have a career year and certainly better than the trash the Braves put in LF in ’10.
Lol, yeah. I remember Braves fans calling for Wren’s head when the Peavy trade talks fell apart and they lost A.J. Burnett to the Yankees. This was even before you-know-what hit the fan and Smoltz signed with the Red Sox.
Peavy, Burnett, and 2009 Smoltz turned out to be all garbage. I think Frankie knows what he’s doing.
The only real potential problems are SS, and corner OF (Chipper and Heyward are injury/ineffectiveness risks, Chipper can be covered with Prado but that still leaves a hole in left)