Roch Article-Wieters

[Sports Guy]

Guy never hit .300 or more than 25 HR. Position scarcity be damned, that's not a player you throw the vault at.

Tek was pretty good in his prime...He had 3 straight years where his WARP3 was over 7...It is 6 this year thus far.

He has been solid but not spectacular...Certainly an AS caliber catcher for a few years.

[rolliefingers]

Yeah stallion is right. If you could draft Jason Varitek right now, you'd give him a $5-7M bonus no problem.

And Weiters is considered to have a better bat than Varitek.

And he's basically ready right now. This is not some 18-year-old kid for whom we're extrapolating all these numbers. This is a dominant college player who excels defensively at a premium position at an elite baseball college.

[geschinger]

I think that if you're drafting a guy 5th overall....and supposedly the guy is the best offensive player in the draft, he's probably expected to be a little better with the bat than JV.

Tek is very good.....I just think he's being compared to a Mauer-type hitter.

I'd be thrilled if we got a Varitek type catcher for the next 10 years. I think we'll be setting ourselves up for disappointment if we think he's going to hit as well as Mauer - his bat isn't that good - but I do think he is capable of exceeding Varitek offensively.

[Dipper9]

Let's take a quick walk down memory lane, shall we.

Mike Mussina, ace of the Orioles for many seasons. Willing to accept a small hometown discount. O's let him become free agent before throwing last minute deal his way. Moose to Yankees. Lost over short sighted greed and a few million dollars.

Vladdy. O's are only bidder. Put the cherry on top of the sundae and he was ours. Last minute bid and Vladdy walks to LA. Lost over short sighted greed and a few million dollars.

Delgado. Offered fair offer. Almost signed, but asked for a few extra million. O's balk at that, Delgado walks to Florida. Lost over short sighted greed and a few million dollars.

BJ Ryan. Could have been signed for $15 million over three years. O's balked to see if he could close. Ryan walks to Toronto for HUGE payday. Lost over shirt sighted greed and a few million dollars.

Weiters? We hardly knew ye my friend! Good luck in the 2008 draft!

[beantownrefugee]

Yeah stallion is right. If you could draft Jason Varitek right now, you'd give him a $5-7M bonus no problem.

And Weiters is considered to have a better bat than Varitek.

More agreement here. If the O's could write in Varitek every day for a decade in the line-up batting sixth or seventh, combined with his defense, you do it.

I consider Wieters' defensive abilities to be more important than a few extra HRs or OBP. Lets pick those up in the corner OFs or DH if need be. Those who know- how would you compare Wieters' defensively, his throwing arm, and calling a game?

[Mackus]

Could have been signed for $15 million over three years.

Never could have signed him to that type of deal.

[PoorMike]

Let's take a quick walk down memory lane, shall we.

Mike Mussina, ace of the Orioles for many seasons. Willing to accept a small hometown discount. O's let him become free agent before throwing last minute deal his way. Moose to Yankees. Lost over short sighted greed and a few million dollars.

Vladdy. O's are only bidder. Put the cherry on top of the sundae and he was ours. Last minute bid and Vladdy walks to LA. Lost over short sighted greed and a few million dollars.

Delgado. Offered fair offer. Almost signed, but asked for a few extra million. O's balk at that, Delgado walks to Florida. Lost over short sighted greed and a few million dollars.

BJ Ryan. Could have been signed for $15 million over three years. O's balked to see if he could close. Ryan walks to Toronto for HUGE payday. Lost over shirt sighted greed and a few million dollars.

Weiters? We hardly knew ye my friend! Good luck in the 2008 draft!

Patience. With this new Aug 15 deadline, we can plan to tank a few games and draft him again.

[geschinger]

I would be shocked if we did not sign Wieters.

Drafting him would have required, IMO, approval from PA. I know I saw quotes that Pittsburgh did not draft him after consulting with their ownership.

If AM comes in here and "undoes" PA's commitment to signing Wieters, that would really be quite unbelievable, IMO. And, IMO, that would not bode well for Joe Jordan wanting to hang around either.

Disclaimer: Just responding to the posts above, I still believe there is a 99.9% chance we sign Wieters. I could see where AM undoes the Arrieta commitment though, which would be almost equally upsetting, IMO.

It all depends on what exactly was approved before the draft... If the case was presented to him that previous elite Boras clients have signed for less than 50% of their asking price then what was approved might not have any resemblence to what it might take to sign him.

[DrungoHazewood]

Tek was pretty good in his prime...He had 3 straight years where his WARP3 was over 7...It is 6 this year thus far.

He has been solid but not spectacular...Certainly an AS caliber catcher for a few years.

Quick... name all the O's all star catchers. As far as I know there's only four of them, and two are big head scratchers.

[JTrea81]

Let's take a quick walk down memory lane, shall we.

Mike Mussina, ace of the Orioles for many seasons. Willing to accept a small hometown discount. O's let him become free agent before throwing last minute deal his way. Moose to Yankees. Lost over short sighted greed and a few million dollars.

Vladdy. O's are only bidder. Put the cherry on top of the sundae and he was ours. Last minute bid and Vladdy walks to LA. Lost over short sighted greed and a few million dollars.

Delgado. Offered fair offer. Almost signed, but asked for a few extra million. O's balk at that, Delgado walks to Florida. Lost over short sighted greed and a few million dollars.

BJ Ryan. Could have been signed for $15 million over three years. O's balked to see if he could close. Ryan walks to Toronto for HUGE payday. Lost over shirt sighted greed and a few million dollars.

Weiters? We hardly knew ye my friend! Good luck in the 2008 draft!

Don't forget Derrek Lee who could have been ours for if we paid 8 million a season for him for 4 years for an extension...

[orioles119]

Let's take a quick walk down memory lane, shall we.

Mike Mussina, ace of the Orioles for many seasons. Willing to accept a small hometown discount. O's let him become free agent before throwing last minute deal his way. Moose to Yankees. Lost over short sighted greed and a few million dollars.

Vladdy. O's are only bidder. Put the cherry on top of the sundae and he was ours. Last minute bid and Vladdy walks to LA. Lost over short sighted greed and a few million dollars.

Delgado. Offered fair offer. Almost signed, but asked for a few extra million. O's balk at that, Delgado walks to Florida. Lost over short sighted greed and a few million dollars.

BJ Ryan. Could have been signed for $15 million over three years. O's balked to see if he could close. Ryan walks to Toronto for HUGE payday. Lost over shirt sighted greed and a few million dollars.

Weiters? We hardly knew ye my friend! Good luck in the 2008 draft!

Is it Wednesday yet?

[Eight]

Let's hope Weiters can be more than Jason Varitek. Varitek is a nice enough player, but he didn't reach the bigs until he was 26 and was only really good from '03-'05. Other than that he's been a good catcher but nothing special at all. Certainly not the franchise player Weiters is purported to be.

[tywright]

I thought the Mets offered something for Vlad?

[mikezpen]

They were a lot less likely to sign Loewen I felt, but they got it done-at the last minute. They'll sign this guy.

[markdublya]

If they had said the "Next Posada" instead (which I'm sure they would have had he gone to GA Tech), does that make him break open the bank-worthy?? They have to sign this guy!