Texas Rangers trade Drew Robinson for Patrick Wisdom

The Texas Rangers traded infielder/outfielder Drew Robinson to the St. Louis Cardinals today for third baseman Patrick Wisdom, the team announced today. Both players were on the 40 man roster.

Wisdom, 27, is a former first round draft pick (selected 52nd overall by St. Louis in 2012) out of St. Mary’s, one pick before the Rangers selected Collin Wiles. Wisdom had seemed to have stalled out with difficult seasons in AA in 2014-15 and AAA in 2016, but he had a solid year in 2017 for AAA Memphis, then built on it in 2018 with a .288/.363/.480 slash line in the minors that earned him a major league callup, where he hit .260/.362/.520 for the Cards. Wisdom has all three options remaining, and gives Texas depth at third base, should they make a move with Jurickson Profar or one of their other infielders. A righthanded hitter, he also gives them some depth from that side as a corner bat. He has power but also a lot of strikeouts.

Going back to St. Louis is Drew Robinson, a versatile lefthanded hitter who can play pretty much every position but shortstop, catcher and pitcher. A fourth round pick out of high school from Las Vegas in 2010, Robinson got a chance at regular playing time in 2018, but struggled mightily with contact issues. He has an option remaining and gives the Cards a versatile bench bat.

One could read into this the potential that a Jurickson Profar trade is more likely than we have thought, with Wisdom being brought in so the Rangers have a replacement for third base in 2019 available. More likely, it seems Wisdom is a better fit from a roster standpoint than DRob.