Great call on Pettis, Doc. There's a fair comparison. Not so much on Wilson, I think...at least until he turned 30. Prior to that he was a heck of an offensive player, hitting .300 and getting a triple about every 3 games (or so it seemed). He led the league in hitting once. He was, at one time, one of the finest players n the game.
But after he turned 30 and his bat turned into a 90-ish type, descending, then KC didn't do much in '86, with the Smith-Wilson-Motley OF. But they did win a WS in '85, riding a 179 OPS+ bat of George Brett and 3 starting pitchers bette than 120 ERA plus. Interestingly, all three of those OF guys were - dWAR defenders that year. Even Wilson's glove had slipped. They weren't earning their paychecks with their gloves. In '87 KC abandoned that and went with Tartabull and Bo in the COF's. Boomers, both.
I guess my concern is not directly Dyson....it is Dyson and Martin in the same OF at the same time, which means that you need Haniger to hit like folks think he is poised to. I just don't like the upside of those two guys. And I know that OF pairing is what a lot of people love. If Gamel hits .300 and Dyson is a 4th OF, I'll feel WAY better. Give me a handful of WebGems from Dyson in the first week....and some hint of a bat, and I'll jump on the bandwagon.
An OF of Dyson-Martin-Haniger has a career vR OBP of .329-.315-.309. I would almost bet that Martin, as we're set now, bats 9th vR.
MLB-TR now has us chasing another BOR starter. Of course we are.