Ty Wigginton, Whiny Baby

There was a note in yesterday's Denver Post reading: "Ty Wigginton hasn't been the happiest man in the Rockies' clubhouse yesterday. He's a baseball lifer, a grinder. He will play just about anywhere on the diamond as long as his name is in the lineup."

Listen here, Wigginton, because there seems to be something you're missing, to wit: You suck. Yes, you've got a little bit of power, which is nice, but that's the only thing you bring to the table. You're hitting only .256, and you rarely take a walk, so you make an out far more often than anyone else in the Rockies' lineup. Remember how Dexter Fowler sucked so bad that he had to be sent down to AAA earlier this year? He's got 40 points of OBP on you. Against right-handed pitchers, your OBP is a pathetic .276, which is about the same as Aaron Cook's. Really, it's an upset that anyone ever lets you take the field against a rightie.

Your bat might be strong enough to justify a starting slot if you were some kind of defensive whiz at third base, but you are most assuredly not. You are, in fact, horrendous with the glove. They sometimes try to hide you at first base or left field, where your defense is still bad but at least not as noticeable, but you don't have enough of a bat to play those positions regularly.

You would make a nice bench option for a team with lefty-hitting regulars at first and third and the corner outfield spots, which is exactly what the Colorado Rockies are. You maybe would deserve to start on a bad, going-nowhere team that needed a little pop in its lineup. Maybe. Personally, since you're 33 years old and have zero chance of getting better than you are right now, I would look for a younger player before I gave you a start at any position at all, but hey, that's me.

But what you really should be is grateful that someone is letting you play major league baseball. Every day that your name is on the 25-man roster should be like Christmas to you. That's not good enough? You're going to pout and whine and make angry faces if you don't start? Because you're a grinder?

My goodness, the last thing this team needs is bad players who put their own needs ahead of the team. Let's hope that you've been in the lineup lately, Ty, not because you've been throwing hissy fits in the clubhouse when you don't get to play but because the Rockies are showcasing you for a trade out of town. It's about time you became someone else's problem.