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Something needs to be done about Wieters

Pedro Cerrano

By Pedro Cerrano
in Orioles Talk

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Jonesy10 Hangout Veteran Council

Jonesy10

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What's frustrating is that Matt was such a beast in the minors. It just has not translated to the ML level. I truly believe it's a bat speed issue. He drags the bat. Was his swing different in the minors? How did he put up such numbers? Even when he first came up, I thought, that bat is slow.

Matt is costing himself gobs of money. At this point, I do think we should play out his arbitration years. I never thought I would say that. History tells that big catchers lose their defensive prowess. And if he loses that, then he really is league average.

I guess there is still time for his bat to come around, but he needs to make some serious adjustments.

The problem is even with his defense, if his offense keeps getting worse as it has steadily since he came up to Baltimore, he's league average. Take out the defense and he probably isn't a starting catcher, or if he is he would be one of the worst starters in the league.

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Jonesy10 Hangout Veteran Council

Jonesy10

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Glad to see Buck making some adjustments with Wieters in the lineup.

Same. Pretty weird how he didn't adjust it earlier considering Matt had a monster game the one time he batted 7th IIRC. I guess that one good game gave him 25 games of leeway haha.

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Jonesy10 Hangout Veteran Council

Jonesy10

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Wieters was over-hyped by the media and as a result the fans had higher expectations for him. They were patient at first but the patience is now wearing thin. He has to be accepted for what he is; a very good defensive catcher with a bat that doesn't really instill fear into very many pitchers. He is what he is.

Moving him down in the lineup to 7th will help. Yesterday, the Jays gave an IBB to Davis to get to Wieters. You all saw the result.

This is exactly how I felt about him. Pretty much a perfect description haha. I will try to stop ragging on him now... It just made it more frustrating when Wieters has like a .570 OPS this month, is supposed to be "protecting" Davis, and there was a guy with an OPS around 1.000 the past 2 months hitting right behind him missing out on quality at bats due to the lineup placement.

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Mr Snuffleupagus Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

Mr Snuffleupagus

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I think we need to trade Wieters for what ever we can get, and replace him with a good defensive C who can give us at least L.A. OPS, 20 HR and 80 RBI.

If only we could find a guy like Fransisco Cervelli or Jose Molina... :D

All that said, I'm glad to see he was moved down in the lineup. It needed to happen, especially with Hardy getting hot.

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SeaBird Major Leaguer

SeaBird

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He had one of the best runs through the minors in baseball history. He was definitely not overhyped.

That's true, but the success in the minors didn't carry over to the majors. The media was falling all over themselves promoting him. He was being billed as the next great hitting catcher.

In 2009, Keith Law wrote the following for ESPN regarding the top 100 prospects in MLB in which Wieter's was ranked # 1: "Wieters is typically compared to one of two current big-leaguers: Mark Teixeira and Joe Mauer. Those are tough comps to hang on a player who has yet to sniff the big leagues, but in Wieters' case, they're merited. He's a switch-hitter with plus hit and power tools from both sides".

Terry Crowley, in 2010, said of Wieters, "A lot of people thought he was going to be an instant star. I might've been guilty of that also."

It's just been slow in coming. It was a lot to live up to. Maybe he'll suddenly explode but it sure hasn't been easy for him thus far.

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CA-ORIOLE Hangout Grand Counsel

CA-ORIOLE

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That's true, but the success in the minors didn't carry over to the majors. The media was falling all over themselves promoting him. He was being billed as the next great hitting catcher.

In 2009, Keith Law wrote the following for ESPN regarding the top 100 prospects in MLB in which Wieter's was ranked # 1: "Wieters is typically compared to one of two current big-leaguers: Mark Teixeira and Joe Mauer. Those are tough comps to hang on a player who has yet to sniff the big leagues, but in Wieters' case, they're merited. He's a switch-hitter with plus hit and power tools from both sides".

Terry Crowley, in 2010, said of Wieters, "A lot of people thought he was going to be an instant star. I might've been guilty of that also."

It's just been slow in coming. It was a lot to live up to. Maybe he'll suddenly explode but it sure hasn't been easy for him thus far.

Wait, I thought he was Jason Varitek.

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Frobby Hangout Grand Counsel

Frobby

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I wish people would just forget about how Wieters was hyped before he played a game in the majors, and just accept him for what he is and has been since his major league debut in 2009. If you think about it, his 4+ years in the majors is a much more significant indicator of what to expect from him than the 1.3 seasons he spent in our minor league system 4-5 years ago.

Wieters is hitting poorly at the moment, and if he finished the year at these numbers I'd be pretty disappointed in him. Like many hitters, he's streaky, so I don't assume that .683 OPS on June 26 means .683 OPS at the end of September.

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CA-ORIOLE Hangout Grand Counsel

CA-ORIOLE

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I wish people would just forget about how Wieters was hyped before he played a game in the majors, and just accept him for what he is and has been since his major league debut in 2009. If you think about it, his 4+ years in the majors is a much more significant indicator of what to expect from him than the 1.3 seasons he spent in our minor league system 4-5 years ago.

Wieters is hitting poorly at the moment, and if he finished the year at these numbers I'd be pretty disappointed in him. Like many hitters, he's streaky, so I don't assume that .683 OPS on June 26 means .683 OPS at the end of September.

I guess this is where I disagree. His lack of improvement (even possible regression) on offense along with other risk factors indicate to me his best days may be behind him and/or I at least don't want to be paying him well for his past production.

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