Standing O for "Little O"

In the land of three-armed men, the two-armed man is unremarkable. Such is the lament for Omar Vizquel, a mere pipsqueak of a shortstop in a time of behemoth belters. Vizquel, at 45 years of age and 159 hits short of 3,000, signed a minor league deal with Toronto last week, presumably to tutor Blue Jay prospects.

Performing his ballet at short for Seattle, Cleveland and San Francisco, Vizquel presented as the latter-day Ozzie Smith, a glove-first, adequate-hitting middle infielder who helped his team to multiple World Series. But just as 5'9" Vizquel was gaining traction, 6'4" Cal Ripken was breaking records, 6'3" Alex Rodriguez was winning the batting crown and 6'3" Derek Jeter was winning championships. Throughout his career, as Vizquel approached the Hall of Fame bar for shortstops it moved higher and higher.

Vizquel fell short of the even the old standard for Hall shortstops regardless; he never flashed either the talent afield or with the stick of the Wizard of Oz. His .272/.337/.352 lifetime line in an era of inflated offense is actually 18% weaker than the average hitter. His magic at short -- soft hands, cat quickness, near perfection -- was enough alone to earn him stardom, but without power, he would have needed more seasons like 1999, where he hit .333/.397/.436 with 45 extra base hits and 42 of 51 steals for Cleveland. Only two other times in his career did "Little O" get on base 36% of the time, not nearly enough for someone with 80 home runs in 23 seasons. Vizquel pales next to ARod and Jeter.

(It's worth acknowledging, though not necessarily crediting, the defensive statistics that are somewhat underwhelmed with Vizquel's defensive prowess, granting him just 10-13 wins lifetime with the glove. That's less productivity than they credit to Ripken in just 17 years at short. Feh.)

With his defensive skills eroded and his offense drained of its adequacy, Vizquel's chances of cracking the Blue Jay lineup this year are slimmer than Tim Lincecum, and even then he almost certainly wouldn't make more than nominal appearances for the big league club. Vizquel hasn't been capable of above-replacement work since his triumphant valedictory with the Giants six years ago. So we'll take this moment to remember and appreciate the best fielding shortstop of the last two decades who accumulated 1000 walks, 1400 runs scored, 400 steals and 11 Gold Gloves, and came within one season of 3,000 hits.

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