Wieters hasn't thrown out a base stealer since June 13th (batting avg. 174 during that time)

[SilentJames]

Wait, I thought this thread was about Matt Wieters?

Anyway, I agree with those who say it's obvious he looks hurt. I'd sit him.

Considering how he's been hitting, the step down to Teagarden on offense isn't that huge. Let him get healthy now instead of aggravating whatever niggle is bothering him down the stretch.

Wait, you seriously think that Teagarden is not much of a step down. Really?

[Mizerooskie]

Wait, you seriously think that Teagarden is not much of a step down. Really?

From the .531 OPS Wieters has put up in July? No.

Is it so hard to fathom that an injured Matt Wieters (as he seems to be right now) isn't much better than Teagarden?

[SilentJames]

From the .531 OPS Wieters has put up in July? No.

Is it so hard to fathom that an injured Matt Wieters (as he seems to be right now) isn't much better than Teagarden?

Yes it is, without the use of extreme amounts of alcohol and psychotropic drugs. Considering he is 11 ABs into July it is a little soon to condemn his entire month.

Wieters has had a rough year so far, but Teagarden? Really?

[Mizerooskie]

Yes it is, without the use of extreme amounts of alcohol and psychotropic drugs.

I'm not sure if you misunderstood my post or just want to be confrontational, so I'll try to clarify.

Matt Wieters of the last two weeks has essentially been as bad as Taylor Teagarden has for most of his career. My guess is that the struggles are due to injury. Ergo, his performance won't improve until he's healthy.

[MrOrange82]

Yes it is, without the use of extreme amounts of alcohol and psychotropic drugs. Considering he is 11 ABs into July it is a little soon to condemn his entire month.

Wieters has had a rough year so far, but Teagarden? Really?

If the question is "injured Matt Wieters who's been hitting .170-something for about a month" vs. a healthy TT, why is the idea so far fetched?

I think the point has to be that TT wouldn't be that much of a step down as compared to an injured Wieters. Get Matt healthy, then get him back in. Trotting him out there every day if he's hurt isn't doing anyone any favors.

[SilentJames]

Yeah, sorry about that.

Rabbit ears are up. If Wieters is injured, then he needs to sit but I think he is just having a bad first half. These things do happen. If nothing else the all star break could be just what he needs.

[BohKnowsBmore]

When will Jones ever carry this team on his shoulders?

Large stretches of 2012.

[weams]

Large stretches of 2012.

And Matt Wieters. He threw a man out. The umpire just missed it by two feet.

[Gurgi]

There might be some truth to that theory if Jones actually forced the pitchers to throw strikes.

This is the truth. If Jones would just walk a little bit more Davis would have lots more RBI. But I am almost getting tired of talking about Jones and Wieters. They dont get better. But at least Jones isnt dropping balls with a big pink bubble in his mouth anymore.

[Jonesy10]

Ok I know I'm a big Wieters hater but here's my case of why I think he will turn it around...

He is getting extremely unlucky. His BABIP is .238 (ranked 151st out of 158 batters on Fangraphs). He's usually in the .275/.280 mark. His LD rate is intact with his career LD rate, and he's hitting less ground balls than usual which is probably a good thing with his speed. He's also striking out less, and walking a bit less, although his OBP is still respectable compared to his BA. So really he's just gotten pretty unlucky and will probably regress (or increase?) to the mean in terms of BABIP. His OPS is already back over .700 too. If he could get it back in the .750 range that would be great. But I think he can do better than that.

[Moose Milligan]

Really tired of people saying that Jones is what he is and we should just accept it. He's very talented and capable of being a much better hitter than he's shown over the last month+. Today he actually hit the ball hard to the RF, something he did regularly during the season's first month. Then he went to deep right center for a single late in the game. He's quite capable of going that way and has a great stroke to RF. He has consciously tried to be a pull hitter, which eventually leads to the type of terrible slump (did someone say no extra base hits in his last 55 AB's?) he has gotten himself in. I don't believe it's wrong to hold Jones to a higher standard. In fact, it's a compliment to Jones that I/we do. I don't expect him to walk 70 times a year. At the same time he should walk 30-40 times by mistake. And that is much more likely if he becomes the complete hitter than he is quite capable of becoming. He needs to step up and make the decision to be the type of hitter we need him to be.

Yeah, but I believe you contradict yourself here. He is what he is and we should accept it. He's the type of guy that'll look like he's adopted a new approach, take a pitch, go to the opposite field and then abandon it a month later and get pull happy and start swinging for the fences. I agree he has a good stroke to RF and he should walk 30-40 times by mistake. However he does seem a bit hardheaded....I seem to remember a quote posted on here last week about the streak he was on and the record he was about to break and he didn't seem to care. Rather, he said he intended on breaking it.

He's been this way for a few years now. As you noted, he needs to step up and make the decision to be the type of hitter we need him to be...he's his own worst enemy and I think, ultimately, he gets in the way of greater success.

Personally, I think the guy could be all-world if he kept that approach up for an entire season. I think he could be a 35-40 homer man at his peak and I think he could get that on base percentage north of .340. I think Jones could be an absolute monster if he could be an all fields hitter for 162 games, carrying through the approach that he always seems to have in May through September.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Ok I know I'm a big Wieters hater but here's my case of why I think he will turn it around...

He is getting extremely unlucky. His BABIP is .238 (ranked 151st out of 158 batters on Fangraphs). He's usually in the .275/.280 mark. His LD rate is intact with his career LD rate, and he's hitting less ground balls than usual which is probably a good thing with his speed. He's also striking out less, and walking a bit less, although his OBP is still respectable compared to his BA. So really he's just gotten pretty unlucky and will probably regress (or increase?) to the mean in terms of BABIP. His OPS is already back over .700 too. If he could get it back in the .750 range that would be great. But I think he can do better than that.

Check out Jonesy10 with the reasonably intelligent post.

[El Gordo]

Nothing really wrong with Wieters and Jones except where they hit in the lineup. We need another bat to hit 5, who would force them to hit Jones 6 and Wieters 7. Davis should hit 4, of course. Henry U. AAA, currently : .289, .357, .368 .726 and climbing......:scratchchinhmm:

[Orioles2012]

I'm sure this has been mentioned (im probably late to the party here). But weiters has been the victim of alot of bad calls recently in terms of throwing out baserunners, he should have at least 3 or 4 more runners thrown out but the Umps seem to be blowing them alot more.

[Trackmaster]

This is the truth. If Jones would just walk a little bit more Davis would have lots more RBI. But I am almost getting tired of talking about Jones and Wieters. They dont get better. But at least Jones isnt dropping balls with a big pink bubble in his mouth anymore.

I'd just reshuffle the BA. Make it McClouth, Machado, Crush, Jones, Markakis, Hardy, Weiters, etc., etc. If Jones doesn't want to walk, at least Crush would have McClouth and Machado set the table for him.