Biggest individual disappointment of the season?

[UnashamedRiver]

Do you believe that Matusz and Wieters had equally high expectations coming out of their respective drafts?

No. Wieters was a supposed Phenom and Matusz was a reach, but the best pitcher of the 2007 draft or whatever year it was doesn't become the worst pitcher in the MLB.

[Guest]

No. Wieters was a supposed Phenom and Matusz was a reach, but the best pitcher of the 2007 draft or whatever year it was doesn't become the worst pitcher in the MLB.

But he did....

[SammyBirdland]

Other: Zach Britton

I was expecting him to dominate. I'm hoping he still will.

[Pedro Cerrano]

No. Wieters was a supposed Phenom and Matusz was a reach, but the best pitcher of the 2007 draft or whatever year it was doesn't become the worst pitcher in the MLB.

So you're basically contradicting yourself. First off, I doubt Matusz is the worst pitcher in all of Major League Baseball. Second, unless you think the difference in hype between Wieters and Matusz is smaller than the difference in their respective performances this year, I don't see how you can vote Matusz over Wieters.

[ShaneDawg85]

I can't believe people are labeling Wieters a bust. This is a guy who has simply produced offensively better than the average catcher. Matusz has sucked. If he had an ERA of 3.80 then by some peoples logic he would be a bust because that's just barely better than league average

He was supposed to be far more than that. He was supposed to be the best, or at least one of the three best, catchers in all of baseball. Better than the average best isn't good enough given the hype he had, and it especially isn't good enough for this franchise and in this division.

[Guest]

So you're basically contradicting yourself. First off, I doubt Matusz is the worst pitcher in all of Major League Baseball. Second, unless you think the difference in hype between Wieters and Matusz is smaller than the difference in their respective performances this year, I don't see how you can vote Matusz over Wieters.

OK, so Matusz isnt The WORST pitcher isn baseball. Which of our OTHER pitchers are??

[UnashamedRiver]

Matt Wieters has the 6th highest WAR among catchers in the entire MLB. That's 30 teams. He is a good player. No getting around that.

[Guest]

Matt Wieters has the 6th highest WAR among catchers in the entire MLB. That's 30 teams. He is a good player. No getting around that.

For a new oriole fan, maybe. Us older oriole fans remember what a really good player is LIKE!

[Guest]

Weiters was touted by his hitting ability. The guy has like 40 rbi's. 11 homers. That aint going to win anyone anything. B-U-S-T!

[UnashamedRiver]

Wieters is in the top 20% of all catchers in baseball. That's equivalent of being an ace pitcher.

[Dipper9]

There are so many disappointments this season, I don't know how anyone can say this was an easy choice, other than trying to act like their opinion is the only correct one.

For me, I am VERY disappointed in Roberts not being on the field, but Andino has played well enough. Plus, the whole Roberts thing frankly pisses me off. I really am starting to feel like he is milking this thing. I know concussions are bad, but how is his worse than the football players getting their heads slammed to the ground play after play? I think its time to admit one of two things, either BRob is seriously ill and the concussion just brought it to the forefront, or else he is milking it and collecting his paycheck!

Then it came down to Matusz vs Wieters. For Brian, first he was injured, then we heard about him not being ready for the season. After coming back from injury he has needed time to get back into pitching shape, and its just not coming yet. I am disappointed, but the injury saved him from getting my vote.

My vote goes to Matt Wieters. YES, he's a great catcher. No arguments there. YES, he a decent hitter FOR a catcher. No arguments there either. But, like others have said, he was supposed to be our middle of the order powerhouse. He was supposed to be the offensive force to build this team around. In essence, he was supposed to be OUR Albert Pujols. Instead, he's a "good player for a catcher." Well, going from "The switch hitting Jesus" to "A good player for a catcher" is the VERY definition of the word disappointment. He's still young. He's still got time to improve. He still could become that force. But the poll question specifically calls out "Wieters' lack of power" and 11 homers and 40 rbi's through 3/4 of the season sure as hell is a lack of power if I ever saw it.

[El Gordo]

Based on their actual performance in MiL and ML baseball I expected more from Matusz this year than I did from Wieters.That wasn't the case last year.

[ShaneDawg85]

Matt Wieters has the 6th highest WAR among catchers in the entire MLB. That's 30 teams. He is a good player. No getting around that.

That doesn't really say much when the catching position features a lot of mediocre players. Frankly, there's no excusing him being 6th. He should be top 3rd, AT WORST.

[Skeletor]

I really expected to be competitive with the Bostons and Skankees this year and rival the Jays and Rays. I was really pumped and excited to see how it all played out. I expected to still lose more than our share but I hoped to be in most of the AL East games and scare them a bit. Wow was I wrong. I was hoping for 75 - 80 wins. Matusz was the centerpiece of my fantasy - dealing zeros and striking out Crawford and Drew masterfully and challenging AGon to be a man. Never happened....so I agree with you that for this year Matusz was the biggest with Wieters for the long term if he never figures to be a bopper. Mitch Williams said last year that he did not believe in BMat and preferred the power arms. I guess he was right. But, if Cliff Lee could figure it out after all those failures so can Matusz. He needs to get tough and battle like Jake. Was it Connors' fault, the back muscle, lack of Kranny???? Who knows but we're in deep doo doo if those two don't become what we expected. It's a long wait for Manny, Jonathan and Dylan.

Me too. And never again will I fall for preseason hype. I will expect the Os to disappoint, play bad baseball, and embarrass themselves on a daily basis yearly until I actually see otherwise.

[UnashamedRiver]

That doesn't really say much when the catching position features a lot of mediocre players. Frankly, there's no excusing him being 6th. He should be top 3rd, AT WORST.

The reason it is because the Catcher position is taxing on the body. Plus you have to worry about the pitchers. Wieters is the equivalent of an ace pitcher. You'd be hard pressed to find a better catcher in the AL right now. Offense is down and it will continue. Steroids are gone and it's time to lower the offensive standards.