Attention Bob Smizik

Shut up.

Craig Wilson is starting to not look like an option. He's looking more and more like a platoon player. He thrives on left-handed pitching but is considerably less successful against right-handers, who form the majority of the major-league pitching corps. For his career, his on-base percentage is about 70 points lower against right-handed pitching and his slugging percentage is about 90 points lower.

Wilson will be a free agent next season, and it's unlikely the Pirates would make a multi-year investment in a streaky platoon player who is only adequate defensively.

"Starting to not look like an option?" "...looking more and more like a platoon player?" What could he possibly be talking about? The only possibility is that he wrote this during the brief slump Craig was in recently, and then was too lazy to update it in light of Craig's recent torrid streak. Too lazy. What is it that a newspaper columnist does with the rest of his time again? And what does the Post-Gazette pay him for his work?

As for his trademark--selective use of statistics to support ridiculous assertions--here's a takedown from a poster at Baseball Primer:

Like all RH batters, Wilson hits LHP better. His split is larger than most (and MGL will tell you that's random noise) but in nearly 1400 PA against righties, he's got an 808 OPS (985 against lefties). He's got an 858 career OPS (120 OPS+) with over 70% of his PA against righties which is not a substantial platoon split.

Will Craig Wilson ever be an all-star or make people forget Clemente? Of course not. But is he a perfectly average hitter for a corner player? You bet your butt. Would an average corner hitter have been a major improvement for the Pirates the last few years and for the next few years? You bet your butt.