Written by Joe Lucia | 13 January 2012

All offseason, the Braves were looking for a veteran to back up rookie Tyler Pastornicky at shortstop. Today, they got him: veteran Jack Wilson, who Mark Bowman is reporting has been re-signed to a one year deal. The Braves acquired Wilson from the Mariners last August.

Wilson's bat is completely gone at this point, as the .559 OPS he posted last year was the second worst of his career. But the Braves didn't bring the veteran back for his bat, they brought him back for his glove. Wilson is still a good defender at short, even if the -1 DRS that he posted in 2011 was a career worst.

So, the Braves appear to be doing this year what they did last year in favoring defense over offense at short. I'd say that's a good move, even with Derek Lowe and his groundball tendencies off the team. With Wilson's presence on the team, the Braves now have the ability to double switch Pastornicky out of the game and not lose anything defensively, something that was lacking from the team before Wilson was acquired.

This is a minor move, but I don't mind it at all. I guess this tells you all you need to know about what the team thinks about Brandon Hicks, though. Jon Heyman is reporting that Wilson's salary for the year will only be $1 million, so there isn't a tremendous financial burden here either.

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