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Matt Wieters To Debut Friday
He's finally coming...multiple readers have emailed that Orioles president Andy MacPhail said on MASN that top prospect Matt Wieters will debut Friday in Baltimore against Dontrelle Willis and the Tigers. Wieters, 23, posted a .285/.367/.482 line in Triple A. He slugged .552 in May.
Since the Orioles were patient with him, Wieters likely won't become a Super Two player. Even if he never sees the minors after his weekend debut, he'll accumulate just 129 days of service time this year and won't have enough experience to become a Super Two after 2011. Every player to become a Super Two in the last three offseasons has had at least two years, 130 days service time. Wieters will hit free agency after the 2015 season regardless, but he'll go to arbitration three times, instead of four. By showing restraint this year Baltimore saved millions of dollars down the road, when they expect to contend.
No player making his MLB debut between now and the end of the season is likely to become a Super Two after 2011, even if he sticks in the majors. This matters for teams like the Braves who can now call up players like Tommy Hanson without paying extra for them in years to come.
Ben Nicholson-Smith also contributed to this post
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*giggles like a girl*
Posted by: HumanToilet | May 26, 2009 at 06:49 PM
Like a lot of O's fans, I am quite excited for this, but unlike a lot of fans, I am not quite ready to anoint him king just yet. Let's see him perform in the majors first.
Posted by: exitfare | May 26, 2009 at 06:53 PM
THE KING HAS ARRIVED!!!
Posted by: Papelboner | May 26, 2009 at 06:55 PM
o's will still finish last
Posted by: jaydestro | May 26, 2009 at 06:55 PM
Seriously, though. I can't wait to see what this kid can do. He's been sitting in my minor league roster spot on my keeper league squad for almost a year now.
Posted by: Papelboner | May 26, 2009 at 06:56 PM
The HumanToilet *giggles like a girl*
Now that's funny!
Posted by: wisbrave | May 26, 2009 at 07:00 PM
+1 Papelboner
Posted by: exitfare | May 26, 2009 at 07:00 PM
I have low expectations for this guy. I dunno why. I want to see what Chris Tillman can do myself.
Posted by: Cardinals Fan Forever | May 26, 2009 at 07:10 PM
if he is as good as when i watched him playing at tech the o's got a franchise guy to go with markakis and jones. heck the guy can proabaly pitch out of their bullpen to. he had a 95mph fastball in college and a decent off speed pitch
Posted by: bravoboy10 | May 26, 2009 at 07:33 PM
I'm very keen on seeing what this guy can do. I know he hasn't dominated this year like his previous stints, after hitting like crazy in Spring Training, but I wonder if it's just disappointment at not starting the season in the majors.
Posted by: rememberthecoop | May 26, 2009 at 07:50 PM
Wieters is celebrating in style tonight.
3 for 3 with a walk and 3 RBI.
Posted by: Shane | May 26, 2009 at 07:53 PM
Nolan Reimold is not going to let Wieters take Rookie of the Year without a fight, it seems.
Posted by: Babkins | May 26, 2009 at 07:59 PM
Wieters is now 4-for-4 with 4 RBI in the Norfolk game. His batting average is up to .305, 30 RBI on the season.
He's hot. I was hoping he'd get back up above .300 before he got called up, and he's done it.
Posted by: Babkins | May 26, 2009 at 08:21 PM
Now all the Braves need is an opening and they could bring up Hanson. He was lights out in Gwinnett tonight.
Posted by: GoldenGlove002 | May 26, 2009 at 08:39 PM
I am MORE than ready for Hanson to take Medlen's place in the Braves rotation.
Posted by: drphonic7 | May 26, 2009 at 11:35 PM
Well, as a Wieters owner in a Yahoo! league I am DEFINITELY ready for Wieters to finally get up here and make me a proud Wieters owner. This kid is something special. Although I am keeping my expectations lower than many people so as not to get really disappointed if he doesn't live up to the hype.
At least it seems he is getting called up while he's hot. Last 10 games he's batting .368 with a homer, 2 triples, 2 doubles, 12 RBI's...not too shabby.
Posted by: MrBlake14 | May 27, 2009 at 12:16 AM
I hope he has been working those shoulders because he's about to have the weight of a franchise on them for a long long time.
Posted by: xethicx | May 27, 2009 at 08:16 AM
man how smart is McPhail...
Avoiding Super Two, and then bringing him up to face washed out dontrelle...Give him an easy first matchup!!!
Posted by: Mikey | May 27, 2009 at 08:36 AM
Counting on the 130 days of service time is going to start backfiring, as every team is begining to eye that mark. The average is going to start decreasing soon.
Posted by: nicksaviking | May 27, 2009 at 08:41 AM
I understand a team's desire to save money later by keeping a guy in the minors, like the Orioles just did with Wieters. However, if this guy pans out and becomes a superstar, I don't want to hear Baltimore fans complaining when he leaves in six or seven years for a huge money contract in NY, Boston or CA.
Posted by: ChicoWalker | May 27, 2009 at 08:52 AM
seriously^ you don't think wieters know what's going on, macFAIL?
Posted by: ArodMVP217 | May 27, 2009 at 11:50 AM
ChicoWalker hit it on the head. We heard MacPhail blathering on about how he wasn't keeping Weiters in the minors due to the Super 2 status. Right. And that 129 days service time is merely a coincidence.
Posted by: soupdujour | May 27, 2009 at 12:08 PM
"I hope he has been working those shoulders because he's about to have the weight of a franchise on them for a long long time."
With two of the very, very best young players in the game in Nick Markakis and Adam Jones already establishing themselves as stars at the major league level (Markakis might already be a Top 15-20 player in all of baseball), that would likely take some of the weight off Wieters' shoulders. Not to mention that Reimold should help too.
Posted by: scribbletone | May 27, 2009 at 01:00 PM
Lord help me.
carlos lee and pablo sandoval for wieters and jered weaver.
Posted by: primetime | May 27, 2009 at 01:34 PM
The Os aren't a small market team. The fact that when they do sign decent players it's by overpayment, or, when its a quality guy they don't sign at all, is not evidence of a small market team. Their losing years just have a way of keeping quality free agents away. Funny how there's a connection. They aren't going to be huge spenders like the Yankees or Red Sox but if Wieters is the real deal, he won't leave Baltimore. Period.
The argument of the Os keeping Wieters in the minors purely for money reasons is weak. True, there is a monetary benefit for the club to play him in AAA this year. Tho keep in mind that before this season he had a total of ONE pro season. It was one helluva season, sure, but he's hardly established a track record. If the Os promoted him straight to the majors and Wieters has an extended adjustment period, then it could have been a PR disaster in the worst case scenario. It isn't going to be a year of contention where they absolutely need a bat (They need pitchers). The offense has proven to be pretty balanced so why take that risk? It's not like the Orioles are averaging 3 or less runs per game.
In any case, the current regime is returning to an old school Oriole practice of promoting conservatively, allowing the prospects to earn their way into the majors by showing specific skills. For hitters, it's strikezone judgment. For pitchers it's throwing strikes. Based on the non-philosophy they and other clubs tend to use, it's a pretty solid approach. The posters here who are calling the Orioles handling of Wieters as some kind of evidence of bad management has not been paying attention to the Orioles of the last 2-3 years, and, they probably just heard about Wieters fairly recently. It's not like a Ryan Howard or Delmon Young situation where they've held him back a year or two for financial benefit. I repeat: the guy has not played more than one season before '09!
Posted by: basemonkey | May 28, 2009 at 12:35 AM
He played just enough AAA games to make MacPhail comfortable that he's ready for the majors (and so should he do everything possible to be sure). After Friday this argument will be ridiculous. Anytime you have a player reach the majors in 1.25 seasons after being drafted, that's a fast track.
Posted by: basemonkey | May 28, 2009 at 12:42 AM
Cal Ripken also mentioned a good reason of why you don't want to call up players willy-nilly as they hit certain numbers. Building a core of homegrown quality players also has to do with building relationships and familiarity between each other by letting those players play with each other. I guess it's the holistic organizational approach. A lot of the key players on the championship and pennant Os teams actually played with each other for 3-4 years before they even hit the majors.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/schmuck/2009/05/orioles_cal_on_wieters_debut.html
Posted by: basemonkey | May 28, 2009 at 05:27 PM