Geoff Blum apparently didn’t fill new general manager Kevin Towers’ “scrappy utility infielder” quota for the offseason, so Jon Heyman of SI.com reports that the Diamondbacks have signed Willie Bloomquist to a one-year, $1.05 million deal with a mutual option for 2012.
That means Diamondbacks fans will now be treated to months of newspaper articles and announcer-speak about how Bloomquist longs to be an everyday player and brings much more to the table than his numbers suggest.
Meanwhile, he got a chance to play regularly for the Royals in 2009 and hit .265/.308/.355 in 468 plate appearances for a 97-loss team and his .653 career OPS ranks eighth-worst among all active players with at least 2,000 plate appearances ahead of only Juan Castro, John McDonald, Cesar Izturis, Adam Everett, Nick Punto, Willy Taveras, and Alex Cora.
On the other hand, he’s surely among the MLB leaders in “scrappiness” during that same time frame.