Clevenger/Wieters Platoon in 2014?

[LayzieDES]

Well Joseph is one option but there are plenty of others out there.

Like who?

[JTrea81]

You know, they make this thing now called "Baseball Reference" where you can look up facts about baseball. Such as, Clevenger's .537 career OPS at the age of 27, or the fact that Joseph has never done anything above AA at the same age, and that the Orioles think so much of his defense that he's become a corner utility guy. Or that the Braves have an All Star catcher named Brian McCann.

I know you're not interested in anything but spinning people up with absurd ideas that even you couldn't possibly believe in, but a Clevenger/Joseph platoon would probably result in 2-3 fewer wins than an average Wieters season. And maybe worse than that.

Clevenger has a career .373 OBP in the minor leagues and put up a .401 OBP in the minors this year. I want that in the Orioles lineup instead of a sub .300 OBP catcher. Wieters has been worth 2.0 fWAR this year with 13 other catchers being better than that. I'm sure Clevenger would be adequate compared to any replacement level catcher we would sign to replace Wieters, and that's my point. The money needs to be spent on the OF, DH, 2B and SP. So yes you would downgrade at C a bit but you would upgrade elsewhere.

[ledzepp8]

Clevenger has a career .373 OBP in the minor leagues and put up a .401 OBP in the minors this year. I want that in the Orioles lineup instead of a sub .300 OBP catcher. Wieters has been worth 2.0 fWAR this year with 13 other catchers being better than that. I'm sure Clevenger would be adequate compared to any replacement level catcher we would sign to replace Wieters, and that's my point. The money needs to be spent on the OF, DH, 2B and SP. So yes you would downgrade at C a bit but you would upgrade elsewhere.

But Matt Wieters has a career 438 OBP in the minors. That's a bigger number right?

[JTrea81]

Like who?

Henry Blanco (42)

John Buck (33)

Ramon Hernandez (38)

Brian McCann (30)

Jose Molina (38)

Dioner Navarro (30)

Wil Nieves (36)

Miguel Olivo (35)

Ronny Paulino (33)

Brayan Pena (32)

A.J. Pierzynski (37)

Humberto Quintero (34)

Carlos Ruiz (35)

Jarrod Saltalamacchia (29)

Kelly Shoppach (34)

Geovany Soto (31)

Kurt Suzuki (30) - $8.5MM club option with a $650K buyout

Yorvit Torrealba (35)

[JTrea81]

But Matt Wieters has a career 438 OBP in the minors. That's a bigger number right?

True, but he's no longer using his patient approach that made him successful in the minors.

[weams]

But Matt Wieters has a career 438 OBP in the minors. That's a bigger number right?

Matt Wieters got trained to be too aggressive when he got to the majors by the Orioles staff. When he goes to his next team, he will do that in the majors. It's simple really.

[JTrea81]

Matt Wieters got trained to be too aggressive when he got to the majors by the Orioles staff. When he goes to his next team, he will do that in the majors. It's simple really.

You joke, but there is a possibility this is exactly what happens...The Orioles are using him too much and wearing him out. If a team were to get him adequate rest and have him focus on his hitting more instead of his behind the plate work, who knows, but it won't happen in an Orioles uniform...

[ledzepp8]

Henry Blanco (42)

John Buck (33)

Ramon Hernandez (38)

Brian McCann (30)

Jose Molina (38)

Dioner Navarro (30)

Wil Nieves (36)

Miguel Olivo (35)

Ronny Paulino (33)

Brayan Pena (32)

A.J. Pierzynski (37)

Humberto Quintero (34)

Carlos Ruiz (35)

Jarrod Saltalamacchia (29)

Kelly Shoppach (34)

Geovany Soto (31)

Kurt Suzuki (30) - $8.5MM club option with a $650K buyout

Yorvit Torrealba (35)

Haha you're hilarious. We should get rid of Wieters and sign players that are worse than him and/or 42 years old.

[Can_of_corn]

You joke, but there is a possibility this is exactly what happens...The Orioles are using him too much and wearing him out. If a team were to get him adequate rest and have him focus on his hitting more instead of his behind the plate work, who knows, but it won't happen in an Orioles uniform...

So you can't teach patience at the ML level but you can teach recklessness?

[ledzepp8]

True, but he's no longer using his patient approach that made him successful in the minors.

Oh that's what it is. It's a choice thing, just like with the Os recent RISP struggles. It's irrelevant though as you were comparing minor league OBP numbers. Wieters is way better so he must be the better option.

[weams]

You joke, but there is a possibility this is exactly what happens...The Orioles are using him too much and wearing him out. If a team were to get him adequate rest and have him focus on his hitting more instead of his behind the plate work, who knows, but it won't happen in an Orioles uniform...

No. There is not a possibility that this is what occurs. You can have your opinions, but don't confuse them with facts.

[ledzepp8]

No. There is not a possibility that this is what occurs. You can have your opinions, but don't confuse them with facts.

Hey now, they are facts to someone who lives in a world where athletes make a conscious choice to succeed or fail. They don't have specific talent levels, they're either good or they're bad because of some decision they've made. Things are a lot simpler that way.

[BRobinsonfan]

You joke, but there is a possibility this is exactly what happens...The Orioles are using him too much and wearing him out. If a team were to get him adequate rest and have him focus on his hitting more instead of his behind the plate work, who knows, but it won't happen in an Orioles uniform...

Maybe we should fire the catching coach?

[ledzepp8]

Maybe we should fire the catching coach?

Well of course but I would probably start with the patient approach and good choices coach first and foremost. Dude should have been gone years ago.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 4.

[DrungoHazewood]

Clevenger has a career .373 OBP in the minor leagues and put up a .401 OBP in the minors this year. I want that in the Orioles lineup instead of a sub .300 OBP catcher. Wieters has been worth 2.0 fWAR this year with 13 other catchers being better than that. I'm sure Clevenger would be adequate compared to any replacement level catcher we would sign to replace Wieters, and that's my point. The money needs to be spent on the OF, DH, 2B and SP. So yes you would downgrade at C a bit but you would upgrade elsewhere.

Clevenger has a good minor league OBP. He's also been in the minors through his peak years. There's little or no basis for believing he'll be significantly better getting on base than Wieters, and all kinds of basis for believing he'll be much worse in other areas.

And I'm glad that you've agreed that Clevenger "would be adequate compared to any replacement level catcher" which I take to mean he himself is roughly replacement level. Meaning playing him instead of someone of Wieters' quality would have cost the team 12-15 wins over the past four or five years.