Brian Wilson Officially Signs with Los Angeles Dodgers
Richard Langford@@noontide34
Correspondent IJuly 30, 2013
Adding more fuel to an already red-hot rivalry, the Los Angeles Dodgers have inked closer and former San Francisco Giant Brian Wilson to boost their bullpen.
UPDATE: Monday, Aug. 19, at 5:28 p.m. ET
From the Los Angeles Dodgers:
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UPDATE: Monday, Aug. 19, at 1:40 p.m. ET
From Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal:
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UPDATE: Tuesday, July 30, at 6:51 p.m. ET by Ian Hanford
The Dodgers made Wilson's signing official Tuesday evening:
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Original Text
Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports delivers the news:
ESPN's Jerry Crasnick adds to that:
Wilson became a free agent after he was non-tendered by the Giants this past November. He took the time to thank fans by the Bay:
The 31-year-old Wilson has spent all seven of his major league seasons with the San Francisco Giants. He has a career ERA of 3.21, a WHIP of 1.34 and 340 strikeouts in 320 innings pitched. Wilson has proven he is capable of being one of the game's top closers, and he has 171 saves against just 25 blown saves for his career.
His best year came in the 2010 World Series run by the Giants when he notched 48 saves with an ERA of 1.81.
While Wilson has been consistently excellent, this signing is not without risk. After all, he is coming off a season where he made just two appearances before going under the knife for season-ending Tommy John surgery in April. As the linked report by the Associated Press notes, Wilson also had a similar surgery while in college in 2003.
That surgery did not prevent the Giants from selecting him in the 24th round of the 2003 First-Year Player Draft, and it certainly has not slowed down his career. Given his consistency and prolonged success, it is reasonable to expect Wilson to come back strong from this surgery.
Also, in his last full season (2011), Wilson was hampered by elbow issues, yet he was still able to put up 36 saves and an ERA of 3.11.
Wilson was a fan favorite in San Francisco, with his iconic black beard and off-the-wall personality endearing him to fans.
The former Giants closer is a low-risk, high-reward option for a club looking to hold on to first place in the NL West. It should also make for quite the talking point between these two division rivals.