The Case For Dan Uggla

Dan Uggla may still be traded by the Florida Marlins. Putting him into a Twins uniform would help shore up second base (finally) and provide even more pop to an already good lineup. Uggla has positives and negatives like we all do. Here are his:

Positives:

• He'll be 30 years old next March


• He's averaged 32 homeruns a year, 95 RBI and an OPS+ of 114 in his four year career.


• Uggla's averaged 75 walks a year and had a career high of 92 last season in a down year for him.


• He's durable, thus far in career he has played 156-159 games a year.


• Triple slash for career is: .257/.344/.482


• Runs Created each year were: 102, 103, 100, 97. Last year's 97 was again in a down year. He is a very good run producer. Joe Mauer led the AL with 138 Runs Created last year. Next for the Twins were Kubel and Span at 101 Runs Created each. Getting around 100 runs created from 2B would help fans forget the hitting of the Harris/Punto/Casilla three headed monster.
  
• His Wins Above Replacement statistic over his career is 2.6-4.7. The Twins had the worse hitting second basemen last season and it wasn't even close. Getting 2-4 wins from 2B would be an upgrade.

Negatives

• Uggla's obvious problem is he is required to field a ball that is hit to him. Yes, he committed 3 errors in the All Star Game 2 years ago, but how inept is he with the glove? His UZR/150 (Runs Above Average per 150 games) for his career is -2.9. Close to average. It's been a rocky road though. His UZR/150 for his four years are: +7.1, -11.3, +2.0 and -9.6 last season. Not great, but also too up and down for the heavy criticism he receives for his poor fielding. It is fair to say Uggla is average at best with the glove with tendencies to look very bad at times throughout a 162 game season.
• Dan Uggla strikes out a lot. He will strike out 150-160 times a year. His strikeout percentage last season was 26.6% when the league average was 20%.

Conclusion

Getting Dan Uggla's bat in the lineup would help the Twins offense tremendously. Uggla's glove, while suspect, doesn't merit not doing the trade. His fielding will not cost the Twins more runs than he'll bring in with his bat. Depending on what the Marlins want I would endorse the Twins making the trade, even if that means trading Nick Blackburn. With all this said I will still be surprised if the Twins make the trade. They don't jump into the deep water often and have been too successful staying in the shallow end of the pool. But it would be fun to see them try the deep end once in awhile.