AP Wire | 10/15/2004 | Tigers claim contracts of Gettis, Wise off waivers
Great! I thought there was the smallest chance that the Braves actually were (as the AJC claimed) seriously thinking about giving DeWayne Wise a chance to win a full-time job. So much for that. DeTroit claimed DeWayne on waivers and thankfully the Wise Era has apparently ended.
(Thanks to Der Komminsk-sar for the heads-up.)
I never have understood why you don’t like him so much. He didn’t post very good BA or OBP numbers, but he gave us six homers off the bench. I know he isn’t the most wonderful player off the bench, but he wasn’t really awful or anything.
Which is what makes him dangerous. Leaving aside whether you want a .230 hitter with no walks as your only lefthanded option on the bench, he’s just good enough that credulous people — such as those that work at the AJC — might think that he’s a potential regular.
He’s good if he’s not the only lefthanded option on the bench. He’s a good fielding outfielder with a strong arm and great speed. He’ll have a long career as a 5th outfielder, like a Orlando Merced/Curtis Pride type guy who may start for a team during a pinch but mostly will make $400k for a team with no outfield prospects to give limited playing time to. Only problem with those comparisons is they can hit better but they don’t have his speed.
Baseball Reference doesn’t list any comps for Wise, but I think you could argue that Tsuyoshi Shinjo is fairly close–which brings me to my main point, which is maybe he should give Japan a shot.
At the very least, reading some Eastern philosophy might give him the inner peace to take a walk more than twice a month….
What makes sense for Detroit probably does not for the Braves. Wise certainly deserves a shot somewhere. The vehemence of the attacks on Wise were hard for me to understand. They were ugly and also largely unwarranted.
Maybe Wise played over his head in 2004 and next year he reverts to his despised form. But he must might be a late bloomer. If you project his numbers over a full season he would be close to 20 homeers. Not bad for someone with obvious defensive ability. Prior to 2003 his minor league numbers were not impressive, but he hit over .300 for the various Braves teams that he played for. His major league numbers were also well above his awful stints with Toronto. In addition, Wise is only 26. If one were only to look at the last season, he might be seen as a player who was coming off a good minor league season and showed flashes of big league potential. My guess is that he will make the type of contribution that Rob suggests. Given the large number of potential outfielders the Braves have, Wise could not be a priority.
I’m not president of the D. Wise fan club, but I thought he improved markedly through the year. I haven’t looked at the month-by-month, but his ABs seemed to get better (even if they didn’t result in success) as the season wore on.
He did start turning on the ball with authority after a start in which he seemed to be lunging and swatting at everything.
He’s a 4th/5th OF guy and he might make a career out of being a “25th guy.” He’s got wheels, looks good on defense, and, as I said, appears to have figured out how to hit the ball with some authority. If he gets a little more disciplined, he could stick around for awhile.