Matt Wieters Accepts Qualifying Offer

[mikeytheman247]

Orioles catcher Matt Wieters will accept the one-year, $15.8MM qualifying offer, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (via Twitter).

Wieters accepting the offer comes as a surprise on multiple fronts. He’s the clear top catcher on this year’s free-agent market despite coming off an injury-riddled season. Wieters is also represented by Scott Boras, who has routinely spoken out against the flaws in the QO system and has a reputation for encouraging his players to test the open market.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Guess most people were wrong thinking that he was going to decline it. I think that the Braves were the primary destination and when they re-signed Pierzynski, he realized he likely wasn't going to get an offer like that anywhere else. I wonder if they'll try out Wieters at first base like the Twins did with Mauer since it's unlikely that Davis is coming back.

 

[hattersgonnahate]

If Wieters can get anywhere close to his Steamer projections for 2016 (read: 2.2 fWAR), $15.8M might actually be a fair price by free agency standards ($7.2M / WAR in this case).

Of course, that's a big if...

 

[Elginbaylor]

$15.8M for a player that might catch half the time? What are these guys smoking?

Clevenger and Joseph were good last year and cost $0.5 M.

$15.8M could've bought a couple years of O'Day, or gone to plug the holes at LF and pitching. Catching was the last position they needed to spend big FA $$$ on.

 

[mikeytheman247]

$15.8M for a player that might catch half the time? What are these guys smoking?

Clevenger and Joseph were good last year and cost $0.5 M.

$15.8M could've bought a couple years of O'Day, or gone to plug the holes at LF and pitching. Catching was the last position they needed to spend big FA $$$ on.

He'll probably play 1st or DH most of the games. Pitchers have a better era with Joseph catching.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

$15.8M for a player that might catch half the time? What are these guys smoking?

They probably wouldn't have offered it if they thought he'd accept it. The front office probably assumed that since he was a Boras client, he would've declined it and signed somewhere else. But since his likely destination was pointing towards Atlanta and they had just signed Pierzynski, his options were going to be limited. So with Atlanta off the table, Boras probably told him to accept the offer to prove yourself and wait until next season.

 

[tedman2012]

He'll probably play 1st or DH most of the games. Pitchers have a better era with Joseph catching.

that would be funny as hell . matt would blow a gasket if he was the dh and firstbaseman for the year . we need to make room for a first baseman for trey or walker this year . i think letting pearce walk and signing davis if walker or trey takes off at first move davis to rf or the bullpen (being funny here ) and let him dh .

 

[hattersgonnahate]

He'll probably play 1st or DH most of the games. Pitchers have a better era with Joseph catching.

that would be funny as hell . matt would blow a gasket if he was the dh and firstbaseman for the year . we need to make room for a first baseman for trey or walker this year . i think letting pearce walk and signing davis if walker or trey takes off at first move davis to rf or the bullpen (being funny here ) and let him dh .

If 1B/DH isn't an option, would it be too much of a stretch to consider moving Wieters to the outfield? No, this is not a joke: In 2015, Wieters would have been an upgrade over our left fielders in terms of OPS (0.741 vs. 0.640).

 

[tedman2012]

If 1B/DH isn't an option, would it be too much of a stretch to consider moving Wieters to the outfield? No, this is not a joke: In 2015, Wieters would have been an upgrade over our left fielders in terms of OPS (0.741 vs. 0.640).

well i'm a broken record nolan is better than matt wieters given same abs . nolan would bb, score more runs and in 4 5 or 6 hole have more rbis . matt is as slow as a 7 year itch . caleb is a better player than any catcher at 1st or of we have D wise on the team .

 

[hattersgonnahate]

well i'm a broken record nolan is better than matt wieters given same abs . nolan would bb, score more runs and in 4 5 or 6 hole have more rbis . matt is as slow as a 7 year itch . caleb is a better player than any catcher at 1st or of we have D wise on the team .

We might have to agree to disagree here, as I'm not convinced that Reimold would really be better for the following reasons:

• Reimold has had fewer MLB at-bats than Wieters did in every season since 2010... partly because his health and/or production is somewhat unreliable. In other words, he has both a higher ceiling and a lower floor.
  
  
• Reimold's career OPS is only marginally better than Wieters' (0.759 vs. 0.743), while 2015 was a near-tie (0.738 for Reimold vs. 0.741 for Wieters, with Reimold having the edge in OBP and Wieters in SLG). The difference is small enough that moving Wieters off the catcher position might be enough to bridge the gap.
  
  
• The Steamer projections for 2016 are a wash in terms of wOBA, with Wieters having the higher predicted WAR despite a lower number of predicted at-bats.