I don't want to see Wieters playing for the O's until.......

[wildcard]

I think Buck in general gives the veteran the chance over the younger player and tends to activate the DL'd player early rather then letting him get his swing back in the minors.

Two situations:

We all knew that Norris was having trouble commanding the ball in ST. He had an ERA of 9.26 in ST and it wasn't getting much better as ST ended. Gausman was no great shakes either but his ERA was 7.04. Norris was put in the rotation. Gausman goes to the pen. Now Norris ERA is 12.38 after two starts. Gausman has a 8.31 ERA . Neither are pitching great but Buck tends to go with the veteran.

Lough is on rehab. He goes to Frederick plays 6 innings and is activated the next day. Did Buck keep him in the minors until he showed he could hit? No, that did not happen even though Lough could have stayed in the minor for 20 days working on the his hitting. So Lough is now 0-4. Is he ready to hit major league pitching? Did he get the best chance to be in sync with hitting before being activated?

Buck is a great manager. Dan is a really good GM. But they have there tendency that don't always seem like the best thing to do to win games.

I would rather see Wieters being at least as good as Joseph before he is activated. It seem likely that Wieters will take playing time away for Joseph once Wieters is activated. It will be hard for Buck to do otherwise given Buck's track record with tending to favor the veteran. I just hope Wieters in ready when activated.

[Redskins Rick]

I am not saying Wieters is a bad catcher, not at all. I think he is well above average behind the plate, and prior to the injury had a great throwing arm. I just think Joseph is better. I think Jospeh calls a much better game. Wieters bat is not good enough to supplant Jospeh's superior D, JMO.

Matt is an above average catcher behind the plate, with a cannon for an arm that keeps running from stealing bases.

I dont buy that Joseph is far superior.

[Redskins Rick]

I think Buck in general gives the veteran the chance over the younger player and tends to activate the DL'd player early rather then letting him get his swing back in the minors.

Two situations:

We all knew that Norris was having trouble commanding the ball in ST. He had an ERA of 9.26 in ST and it wasn't getting much better as ST ended. Gausman was no great shakes either but his ERA was 7.04. Norris was put in the rotation. Gausman goes to the pen. Now Norris ERA is 12.38 after two starts. Gausman has a 8.31 ERA . Neither are pitching great but Buck tends to go with the veteran.

Lough is on rehab. He goes to Frederick plays 6 innings and is activated the next day. Did Buck keep him in the minors until he showed he could hit? No, that did not happen even though Lough could have stayed in the minor for 20 days working on the his hitting. So Lough is now 0-4. Is he ready to hit major league pitching? Did he get the best chance to be in sync with hitting before being activated?

Buck is a great manager. Dan is a really good GM. But they have there tendency that don't always seem like the best thing to do to win games.

I would rather see Wieters being at least as good as Joseph before he is activated. It seem likely that Wieters will take playing time away for Joseph once Wieters is activated. It will be hard for Buck to do otherwise given Buck's track record with tending to favor the veteran. I just hope Wieters in ready when activated.

This is Buck, who brought Manny up and plugged him in at 3rd.

He plugged Schoop in at 2nd last year.

Just because you don't like Lough, means that Buck made the wrong decision on Lough.

[BohKnowsBmore]

I am not saying Wieters is a bad catcher, not at all. I think he is well above average behind the plate, and prior to the injury had a great throwing arm. I just think Joseph is better. I think Jospeh calls a much better game. Wieters bat is not good enough to supplant Jospeh's superior D, JMO.

I'd have to disagree, Matt Wieters's WORST offensive season (2010) is ~40 points of OPS higher than what Caleb has done in his career thus far. I know people are down on Wieters because of the hype, but I think they lose sight of how well his bat plays from the catcher position. He has a career OPS of .743, which would have been better than all but three qualifying catchers last season (Posey, Lucroy and Yan Gomes). If he had continued with the .839 he was sporting prior to injury, he would only be behind Posey.

[Es4M11]

Matt is an above average catcher behind the plate, with a cannon for an arm that keeps running from stealing bases.

I dont buy that Joseph is far superior.

I didn't say that Joseph was far superior. I do think he is better than Wieters behind the plate, though. Joseph last year was every bit as good as Wieter throwing out runners, before Wieters TJ surgery. Jospeh calls a better game, and that is at least partly evidenced by catcher ERA. Wieters' bat is better than Jospeh, at least to this point. But I would rather have the better D/game calling from the catcher position.

[Redskins Rick]

I didn't say that Joseph was far superior. I do think he is better than Wieters behind the plate, though. Joseph last year was every bit as good as Wieter throwing out runners, before Wieters TJ surgery. Jospeh calls a better game, and that is at least partly evidenced by catcher ERA. Wieters' bat is better than Jospeh, at least to this point. But I would rather have the better D/game calling from the catcher position.

Fair enough.

I think after this season, Joseph will be the starter for a few seasons, and hoping his bat stays hot.

He could always hit in the minors, before his problem was defense, which clearly now, he has shown he worked his butt off fixing.

[wildcard]

This is Buck, who brought Manny up and plugged him in at 3rd.

He plugged Schoop in at 2nd last year.

Just because you don't like Lough, means that Buck made the wrong decision on Lough.

Manny vs who? Mark Reynolds or Betemit?

Schoop vs who? Manny was on the DL last spring. Flaherty was playing 3rd. It was Schoop vs Lombardozzi. No arm vs a cannon arm.

Buck went with defense in both cases. And he was right to do so.

And did I say not to call up Lough? No I said give him time to get his swing right. That is not Lough hating.

[Es4M11]

Fair enough.

I think after this season, Joseph will be the starter for a few seasons, and hoping his bat stays hot.

He could always hit in the minors, before his problem was defense, which clearly now, he has shown he worked his butt off fixing.

When all the smoke clears, I think Joseph will have surprised some people with the bat this year.

[DrungoHazewood]

Buck is a great manager. Dan is a really good GM. But they have there tendency that don't always seem like the best thing to do to win games.

Fan's perspective: Fan doesn't agree with MLB management = management doesn't do what's necessary to win games.

Duquette's and Showalter's perspective: I appreciate that some fans think they have a better idea how to win games than I do, but I'll continue down the path I think will win the Orioles more games.

I acknowledge that management makes mistakes, but there are few black/white issues in baseball. The idea that management knowingly leaves wins on the table by making clearly wrong decisions that even casual fans would never make, usually to cater to players' feelings is... well... odd.

[Guest rochester]

What's interesting is the scenario where Buck feels it is more or less a wash between Wieters and Joseph. In that scenario, are we better off returning Wieters to being the primary catcher so he can build value and hopefully yield us a comp pick when he declares free agency, or are we better off making Joseph the primary catcher (or splitting duties 50/50), which helps Joseph accumulate experience that he can use while he remains under team control for the five years after this one, while depressing Wieters' FA value to the point where we might be able to keep him?

Having posed that hypothetical, I doubt Buck will feel it is more or less a wash between Wieters and Joseph. Buck thinks Wieters walks on water. I've also been struck by some of the hero-worshipping things that Joseph has said about Wieters:

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2015/03/caleb-joseph-on-his-latest-opportunity.html

I definitely agree - I also believe this may be a case when Mr. Boras's 'Free agent or Bust' philosophy may hurt Wieters (Chris Davis as well). IMO, Wieters value on O is that he is a catcher; as a DH or 1B? Not so much. Where he excels in comparison to others who may be available is his D and his arm is a big part of that - it will be interesting to see how far he has come along after the injury. Between the injury, having a half season back (not including his 'spring training') and a strong potential of not performing as well and a smaller market to choose from, aka jack the price up, Mr. Boras may be surprised at what may happen monetarily and in years. But, more than likely someone will overpay.

[DrungoHazewood]

What's interesting is the scenario where Buck feels it is more or less a wash between Wieters and Joseph. In that scenario, are we better off returning Wieters to being the primary catcher so he can build value and hopefully yield us a comp pick when he declares free agency, or are we better off making Joseph the primary catcher (or splitting duties 50/50), which helps Joseph accumulate experience that he can use while he remains under team control for the five years after this one, while depressing Wieters' FA value to the point where we might be able to keep him?

I doubt Buck will parcel out playing time in some kind of attempt to manipulate market values. I'd guess that Joseph's value to the Orioles years down the road is at best a secondary concern considering that he's almost 29 and has played part of one MLB season where he hit .207 with a .264 OBP.

Having posed that hypothetical, I doubt Buck will feel it is more or less a wash between Wieters and Joseph. Buck thinks Wieters walks on water. I've also been struck by some of the hero-worshipping things that Joseph has said about Wieters:

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2015/03/caleb-joseph-on-his-latest-opportunity.html

Am I to assume that you think Buck and Joseph are wrong, that Wieters is very much overrated by them?

My opinion, for whatever little that's worth, is that a healthy Wieters is clearly a better player than Joseph. If Buck think's he's healthy he'll be the primary starter.

[Herman]

As long as Caleb Joseph is hitting reasonably well there is no reason to rush Wieters back. Defensively, Joseph isn't much of a drop off and other than Wieters having more power there isn't much of a drop off offensively either. Having Wieters healthy will obviously help the Orioles and I hope that he doesn't come back before he's ready.

[Es4M11]

I also believe this may be a case when Mr. Boras's 'Free agent or Bust' philosophy may hurt Wieters (Chris Davis as well).

Make no mistake about it, if Wieters or Davis wanted to re-sign in Baltimore, they would. Boras does not have as much to do with the actual decision making as many people seem to believe. Boras represents Davis and Wieters, he does not make decisions for them -- unless instructed to do so under certain circumstances. Davis and Wieters signed with Boras because they both want the most money possible, and Boras has a great reputation for getting the most money. This "Free Agent or Bust", as you put it, is as much Davis' and Wieters' philosophy as it is Boras'. Has either player come out and said they would stay in Baltimore for less money/hometown discount?

[Big Al]

I would hope that once Wieters is recovered, Buck would platoon him with Joseph at about 50/50. Then over the course of the season, if one proves to be superior, he would earn more starts. One of my few complaints of Buck, is that when Wieters was healthy, I feel that he was overused behind the plate. Whichever catcher wins the starter title, I would like to see the other get at least two starts a week.

[UMDTerrapins]

I think Joseph is a fine fit for us, and it's not like he can't contribute on offense. But I want to see Davis, Wieters and Chen excel in 2015 so we at least have a decision to make regarding the QO's. I'm going on the assumption that we'll lose all three, so I want to get as much out of them before they go, and something in return when they do. For that trio, 2015 is off to a lousy start in that regard.