Every time I watch Posey hit...

[SteveO]

I guess we're supposed to long for the days of Javy Lopez, Charles Johnson, and Ramon Hernandez.

He is a stellar defensive catcher who makes your pitching staff better. Hits 20+ HR and even if he only hits .250-.260 (I think he will hit better down the road) that's plenty good for a catcher in terms of offensive output.

[Winter]

Alright Weiters bat isn't putting up 30HRs 100RBIs

But if hes ever on another team getting 30HRs 100RBIs you make a thread "Why did we not keep weiters?"

[Mondo Trasho]

He is a stellar defensive catcher who makes your pitching staff better. Hits 20+ HR and even if he only hits .250-.260 (I think he will hit better down the road) that's plenty good for a catcher in terms of offensive output.

Totally agree. I think Wieters is a great catcher. My comment was more of the sarcastic manner. And I think Wieters hype of being a great hitter was unfortunate. Without that, I think nobody would say anything bad about him.

[Burg]

Buster Posey is, in my opinion, what Wieters should have been for us, a superb field general and a legitimate MOO bat.

I love Matt's defense and his ability to handle the pitching staff but his offense has been disappointing. Given all of Matt's hype (mostly justified) and his performance at every level short of the majors, I just thought he was a can't miss MOO bat that would lead us offensively and defensively. I remember watching him in rake in college and the minors and I can't help but be somewhat down as it appears he won't ever do that in the bigs. Given everything else Matt brings to the table, he's certainly not a bust but when I watch Posey rake I just get a bit down.

Maybe it's just me.

[Frobby]

You can lament all day the guys we could have drafted, or the ones we did draft who didn't meet expectations. What good does it do?

[tim299]

This is one of the topics I wanted to hit on. In fact, I was listening to some Orioles talk around mid-season and they were complaining about Matt Wieters being somewhat a bust because he was not doing offensively what was expected. I lost my mind in the car that night. I hate taking up for players but Matt is a true good guy in the baseball world and a top notch catcher. In fact, I think he is the best catcher in baseball right now. There is too much focus on his offensive numbers (and he was one of the most productive on the team in RBI this past season). Defensively there is nothing to talk about, he is the best. Offensively, is where people have this perception that he should be a 300/30/100 type of guy, and that is not going to happen. First, the guy is crouched behind the plate all season taking a beating. Second, I think folks forget how hard it is to play in Maryland in the summer. From June through September we are plagued by high heat and awful humidity. This year alone July had many days in the upper 90's to 100 degrees. I am sure that took a hell of a lot from Matt and ultimately aides him in not having a great batting average (and he is a catcher and not very fast to or on the bases). So we get a guy that averages somewhere between 240-260 each season. That is fine for a great catcher that not only throws guys out, but calls great games. If you look at the list of offensive catchers, it is not very long. So to get someone who hits a 250/22/85 line is just fine. Matt has earned his way to what I think should be a big contract. He is someone we need to address and get the dollars to because losing him in the future would be a disaster. The Orioles and the fans should feel blessed to have the best catcher in the league. Also, Matt is still young and he works hard and is usually the first to the stadium before games. With that in mind, he may still have a "breakout" offensive season in him (God forbid that happen in a contract year because the cheap ass Orioles would watch him go out the door to The Yankees). So I love what he brings to the team and he is a player that plays with pride and grit.

[wildcard]

Aaaaaaaa, I don't think we know if Matt could do what Posey did this year. Matt is used much differently.

Posey started 111 games at catcher. He started at 1st 29 games. Catching is by far the hardest position on the body. Posey got breaks which was good for his body. As far as his 103 RBI he had Pagan (335 OBP), Scutaro (348 OBP) and Sandoval (342 OBP). More runners on base. More chances to drive them in.

Posey is used something like Mauer is used but not to that extreme. Less time at catcher equals better offensive production.

By comparison, Wieters start 132 games at catcher. 21 games more and over 200 innings more behind the plate. It takes a toll. That is the way Buck and Wieters wants it because he is calling the games for a bunch of rookie pitchers. Even Saunders and Hammel marvel at Wieters game calling. Meanwhile Posey is calling games for a veteran pitching staff. Makes a big difference. He can afford to take days off.

As far as the RBIs. Wieters batted 5th the most. He only had Markakis in front of him for 104 games. Hardy's OBP was 282. There was a bunch of guys who hit 3rd, overall not a high OBP and Jones at 334. If the O's got more base runners on for Wieters he would probably have more RBI. Even more RBI if he wasn't all banged up from catching.

So I don't really think we know what Wieters would do offensively if he caught 111 games and had more guys on base in front of him.

[Mr Snuffleupagus]

You're not alone...

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php/127515-Every-time-I-watch-Posey-hit

[OFFNY]

.

We have a thread on this:

Every time I watch Posey hit ... I think about what could (should) have been with Wieters.

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php/127515-Every-time-I-watch-Posey-hit

[Mr Snuffleupagus]

This is one of the topics I wanted to hit on. In fact, I was listening to some Orioles talk around mid-season and they were complaining about Matt Wieters being somewhat a bust because he was not doing offensively what was expected. I lost my mind in the car that night. I hate taking up for players but Matt is a true good guy in the baseball world and a top notch catcher. In fact, I think he is the best catcher in baseball right now. There is too much focus on his offensive numbers (and he was one of the most productive on the team in RBI this past season). Defensively there is nothing to talk about, he is the best. Offensively, is where people have this perception that he should be a 300/30/100 type of guy, and that is not going to happen. First, the guy is crouched behind the plate all season taking a beating. Second, I think folks forget how hard it is to play in Maryland in the summer. From June through September we are plagued by high heat and awful humidity. This year alone July had many days in the upper 90's to 100 degrees. I am sure that took a hell of a lot from Matt and ultimately aides him in not having a great batting average (and he is a catcher and not very fast to or on the bases). So we get a guy that averages somewhere between 240-260 each season. That is fine for a great catcher that not only throws guys out, but calls great games. If you look at the list of offensive catchers, it is not very long. So to get someone who hits a 250/22/85 line is just fine. Matt has earned his way to what I think should be a big contract. He is someone we need to address and get the dollars to because losing him in the future would be a disaster. The Orioles and the fans should feel blessed to have the best catcher in the league. Also, Matt is still young and he works hard and is usually the first to the stadium before games. With that in mind, he may still have a "breakout" offensive season in him (God forbid that happen in a contract year because the cheap ass Orioles would watch him go out the door to The Yankees). So I love what he brings to the team and he is a player that plays with pride and grit.

I think people spend way too much time making excuses for Wieters. Bottom line, he's not as good as Posey, but he's pretty darn good. I think his best years are ahead of him, but it doesn't look like he's bound to have the HOF career many projected. That doesn't mean he's a bust, that just means he didn't meet people's lofty expectations.

[Frobby]

I think people spend way too much time making excuses for Wieters. Bottom line, he's not as good as Posey, but he's pretty darn good. I think his best years are ahead of him, but it doesn't look like he's bound to have the HOF career many projected. That doesn't mean he's a bust, that just means he didn't meet people's lofty expectations.

Exactly. Posey's better, but we're still lucky to have Wieters. He's already 9th in rWAR among all no. 5 draft choices (Posey is 8th) and he's 26 years old. He's not as good a hitter as we hoped he'd be, but he's a better defender than we expected him to be.

[Il BuonO]

Matt Wieters is a fine defensive catcher. I'm just tired of people trying to make him out to be the best defensive catcher of all time and the best game caller of all time to somehow elevate him to best catcher in the game. He's not. He's very good overall but Posey is clearly better. You can make all of the excuses you want.

It's strange how you hit on the game calling because that's the one area of his game where he needs the most improvement. As he goes along that will improve, but I don't think he's the best. He's done a good job in that area and overall I like our guy just fine. He isn't Posey though.

[Spoonless]

I think people spend way too much time making excuses for Wieters. Bottom line, he's not as good as Posey, but he's pretty darn good. I think his best years are ahead of him, but it doesn't look like he's bound to have the HOF career many projected. That doesn't mean he's a bust, that just means he didn't meet people's lofty expectations.

I think it goes both ways. Some people spend too much time making excuses for him, while others spend too much time lamenting his failure to fully live up to his draft expectations.

[bradyrocks]

Our catcher blocks the plate.

Ill take ours, out of sheer confidence and dominance of the most important position on

the field.

[HoustonOrioleFan]

No twinge at all....We have a top-five catcher..Posey is amazing and is better than Wieters (for now), but the draft is such a guess...the O's took Wieters a year before Posey, so I don't blame them for passing on Posey.

Now the MAJOR EARTHQUAKE-LEVEL regret (as far as recent Os-Giants' drafting) is taking Lowell at #9 and the Giants getting Lincecum at #10 in 2006...Heck, Max Scherzer went #11 that same year....

As long as we're getting an eventually solid major leaguer in the First Round even if teams drafting behind us get a superstar, I don't regret anything....the O's well-documented problem over the past 15-20 years is there has been way too many misses to hits (Mussina, B-Rob, Markakis and Wieters, now Manny)...