Nationals to sign Matt Wieters

[scOtt]

5 hours ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

He should do good in Washington, plus it's still close to home. He will probably get cheered the first time he plays here. Now, if he was in pinstripes, a sock that was red, or became Canadian...I think that'd be a whole lot different.

But they have red socks.

 

[UpstateNYfan]

If the O's offered 4/52 last year prior to the QO, would he have accepted it? It seems that if the O's were willing to bite the bullet for 1/15.8, 4/52 would have seem reasonable (to me anyway). So, basically he ended up with a 4/48 or so. I think Boras overplayed his hand and cost Matt at least 5 mill. 

[scOtt]

3 hours ago, MDtransplant757 said:

He'll probably be better than Wieters offensively. 

Watching Wall to Wall Baseball. They're projecting Wieters to hit 8th, in front of the pitcher. He's not going to thrive there. OBP will go up...

[jabba72]

Shocked by this deal, especially when the Nats said they were never high on Wieters back in January. Looks like they were. Im happy for matt though. He deserves to be an everyday player and it looks like he'll get the chance again. 

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, jabba72 said:

Shocked by this deal, especially when the Nats said they were never high on Wieters back in January. Looks like they were. Im happy for matt though. He deserves to be an everyday player and it looks like he'll get the chance again. 

My guess is Boras went to the owner.

[Tx Oriole]

7 hours ago, PaulFolk said:

Reports are it's a 2-year deal with an opt-out.

Good for him. 

[backwardsk]

1 hour ago, scOtt said:

Watching Wall to Wall Baseball. They're projecting Wieters to hit 8th, in front of the pitcher. He's not going to thrive there. OBP will go up...

I remember when Strasberg took the Orioles deep.  

Quality lineup when you have Zimmerman and Wieters in the bottom third.

[scOtt]

2 hours ago, backwardsk said:

I remember when Strasberg took the Orioles deep.  

Quality lineup when you have Zimmerman and Wieters in the bottom third.

Zimm is still a quality hitter. Mostly. Wish he was still a fielder. He was a JOY to watch at 3B!

[ThomasTomasz]

Losing Wieters in a vacuum doesn't hurt as much.  Welington Castillo is a better hitter than Wieters, especially against lefties, and threw out a higher percentage of runners last year.  Both are subpar pitch-framers.  Looking at it financially, the Orioles figure a year of Castillo to bridge the gap between Wieters and Chance Sisco is worth it.  I tend to agree, especially if we are viewing this in a vacuum. 

What I have a big problem with is that, in one off-season, we have lost Dave Wallace, Dom Chiti AND Matt Wieters.  Say what you will about our pitching staff, but without those three, do we ever see the elite bullpen that has led our success under Showalter?  Do we see potential for Gausman and Bundy, or do we see a stabalizing presence in Chris Tillman? 

Losing all three of those guys, who directly impact the pitchers on a daily basis, is a huge loss.  Losing one is OK, losing two is not so good, but we lost all three.  Now, some might say new eyes are a good thing, and I wouldn't disagree, but we are at the win-now point.  If our pitching drops off from where it was last year and doesn't move forward, those three are a big loss.

[Babypowder]

11 hours ago, scOtt said:

Zimm is still a quality hitter. Mostly. Wish he was still a fielder. He was a JOY to watch at 3B!

He's coming off of a 67 wRC+ last season. He hit .218/.272/.370.

[Frobby]

Here's some takes from the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/matt-wieters-signing-likely-registers-more-in-owners-boxes-than-in-bleachers/2017/02/21/89383b3c-f863-11e6-bf01-d47f8cf9b643_story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/nationals-journal/wp/2017/02/21/nationals-sign-matt-wieters-to-one-year-deal-with-2018-option/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/nationals-journal/wp/2017/02/21/tom-boswell-on-the-nationals-signing-of-catcher-matt-wieters/

[weams]

17 hours ago, BamaOsFan said:

Am I correct that we get a draft choice with this move?  Hate to see Matt go, but it's probably the best move for all involved.

No. Not. Matt is free. When we tried to get a pick, he played for us for 15.3

[weams]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Here's some takes from the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/matt-wieters-signing-likely-registers-more-in-owners-boxes-than-in-bleachers/2017/02/21/89383b3c-f863-11e6-bf01-d47f8cf9b643_story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/nationals-journal/wp/2017/02/21/nationals-sign-matt-wieters-to-one-year-deal-with-2018-option/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/nationals-journal/wp/2017/02/21/tom-boswell-on-the-nationals-signing-of-catcher-matt-wieters/

I liked the Boswell piece.

[Il BuonO]

On 2/21/2017 at 0:00 PM, Can_of_corn said:

Most understand that was a joke. 

Better than Wieter's pitch framing!

[Frobby]

Although he got a shorter deal than he would have liked, Wieters is still the 6th-highest paid catcher in MLB.   http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/rankings/average/catcher/   (7th if you want to include Joe Mauer, who isn't a catcher anymore but was when he signed his contract.)