Former Seattle Mariners 2B Kolten Wong Signs with National League Contender
After being designated for assignment, and subsequently released by the Seattle Mariners, second baseman Kolten Wong has signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the stretch run.
The following update comes from the Rotowire fantasy baseball portal:
Wong signed a minor-league contract with the Dodgers on Friday, Bruce Kuntz of Dodgers Digest reports.
ANALYSIS
Wong was released by the Mariners earlier this month after managing a lowly .165/.241/.227 batting line across 216 plate appearances. His defense at second base has also fallen off, although it's reasonable to believe he could at least rebound in that area. The Dodgers would be responsible only for the prorated veteran minimum salary should Wong eventually be added to the big-league roster, but he'll presumably go to Triple-A Oklahoma City for now.
Wong was acquired by Seattle in the offseason as part of a deal that sent Jesse Winker and Abraham Toro to Milwaukee. The aforementioned stats caused him to lose playing time to Jose Caballero at second base and the M's got rid of him, only to eventually acquire Josh Rojas at the trade deadline in a deal that sent Paul Sewald to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
While this year has been a struggle, Wong's track record has been good in his career, so maybe he can help the Dodgers. The 11-year veteran finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting in the National League back in 2014. He played in the 2013 World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals and has won two Gold Glove awards.
At the plate, he's a career .256 hitter with a .329 on-base percentage so this season is a major regression from his career norms.
The Dodgers are 74-46 on the season and lead the National League West by 10.5 games.
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