Pete, I saw video on Weiters and while he's going to rake when he gets going, he looked really thick legged and slow. Do you think he will eventually go to first to save his bat?

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Probably, but not before he plays through his reserve period. He'll catch for quite awhile unless the O's come up with somebody who plays the position better. pete

Let's first see if Wieters, Reimold can hit in Norfolk's Nightmare hitters park before they come to Baltimore. Montanez had major problems with a a few stints in AAA. Plus... AAA is a junk-ball pitchers league, where hitters are not challenged. Playing in Bowie is a huge difference then playing in Norfolk and Baltimore.

Thanks for the update Pete!

What exactly would you want Wieters to learn from Ramon Hernandez? How to be one of the laziest players in the majors? Make blunder after blunder on the basepaths? Call a poor game, be terrible at catching pop ups, blocking pitches and blocking the plate on plays at home, be one of the league leaders in passed balls and errors? The way I see it, it's very important to get Hernandez the heck out of town before Wieters is called up so he _doesn't_ learn any bad habits from him!

Peter, learning "a thing or two" from Ramon is a con. I dont want Wieters anywhere near Ramon unless he is watching a video of how not to block a ball in the dirt or make a strong throw to 2B. From what I hear, Wieters is everything defensively that Ramon is not. We dont need Wieters picking up anything from Ramon.

I believe Matt Wieters will get a strong look in spring training. I would hope that his talent brings him out of ST with the starting job. I would not want him here to sit the bench. I would rather have him at AAA getting regular at-bats rather than on the MLB team sitting the bench. MHO

How will he learn a thing or two from someone who has been traded?

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Drat, foiled again. Nice catch. pete

Wieters looks like he'll be an exciting player to watch in the future, I guess my only question is we hear so much about his bat but how accurate is his arm?

blog looks good schmuck!

Folks need to be patient. Turning this club around is going to take some time, and the last thing the O's need to do is burn out a promising prospect by bringing him up too soon. If Wieters is the real deal, he will be our catcher for a long time, let him develop properly. I wouldn't mind seeing him take a few swings in the majors, but if his coaches and trainers feel it's best to let him wait till spring, then wait. After all these years of futility the O's seem to have an actual plan now, it would be stupid to abandon it before it has a chance to work.

That's actually a good point, that I hadn't considered - Wieters hasn't played this late in the year ever. Huh. Well, I'm with you Pete, I don't want to see Matt until next year.

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I promise I'll make another one some day. pete

They should call him up when rosters expand just to sit in the dugout, be in the clubhouse, and get his feet wet at the major league level. The Yankees did this with Hughes and a few other top prospects a few years ago.

Wieters has been tearing it up everywhere he goes this year. As much as the fans want to see him with the big club this year it's a better decision long term to leave him in the minors this year and let him compete for the job next year.

What is your feeling on signing Teixeira? I think the O's have a pretty good shot.

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I don't feel too good about it since the Angels deal. He's going to the playoffs and probably beyond. Everybody loves playing for Mike Scioscia. Southern California is a nice place to live. His agent is LA based. Not a lot pointing back this way except his possible desire to play near home, which I'm hearing is not that strong. pete

Keep Wieters AWAY from Ramon Hernandez. He doesn't need to learn a THING from him.

Everyone, pay attention to the next play at the plate. Ramon AVOIDS blocking the plate at all costs, it is obvious. He will sidestep the runner and make lame attempts to sweep the tag, often blowing the play. It happens on a regular basis. I really don't know how he keeps his job and does this.

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I agree on one level -- and was about to make a joke about that in my post before choosing to have mercy on Ramon -- but there's a lot more to playing the position than blocking balls (which Ramon does not do well, if at all). There are a lot of subtleties -- particularly in the handling of pitchers -- he can pick up from a veteran. pete

I have watched Weiters in Frederick and Bowie many times. He is the real deal. Strong arm, great defensively, and a game changer at the plate. I would love to see him spend time at first base in order to save his knees. I see this guy around for many years to come. Don't bring him up to fast. Let him work his way up and learn the game the right way.

Hey Peter, I know what McPhail said, but do you think the O's should go after CC Sabathia in the offseason?

California may not sign Tex, especially if they win it all. They have a first baseman in AA that they like a lot and they need $ to sign Vlad and their pitchers. The O's have lots of pitchers coming up and some that have'nt been mentioned in addition to Tillman etc are Erbe, Spoone, Gleason and several more at Delmarva and Frederick have patience!

I think that Wieters should be called up just so Ramon can mentor him in the fine art of base stealing...Pete, did you realize that Ramon and fellow Venezuelan Luis Aparicio have a combined 513 career thefts?

Weiters isnt going to learn anything positive from Ramon. He may learn some defensive tactics from Quiroz. Im hoping we can deal Ramon in late August, call up Weiters & have him split time w/ Quiroz the rest of the way. I think we need to move Millar somehow also in order to play Reimold/Montanez at LF, Huff at 1B & Scott at DH.

One major VOTE for the canning of garbage can scroller SMUCK.

The Orioles will never move Weiters to first base and they better not. He will be one of the best defensive catchers in the league. Putting him at first will take away that huge arm that he has. He throws bullets to second base and on the money. And for the guy that thought he was thick legged and slow, I have not seen that, and how many catchers around the league are fast? But it doesn't matter what happens in September, that is Ravens season and nothing else matters people!

The only positive to bringing Weiters up is that fans with too little patience for microwave popcorn will get their immediate gratification. And I consider that a negative. There is nothing positive about bringing him up now. If he is ready to come up now, he will be ready next year. If he isnt ready now, he can get the same at bats next year when we are no more likely to compete for the postseason than this year. In the meantime let him learn from catching Tillman and the guys he hopefully will be catching for the next ten years in the AA playoffs this year.

I think that if the Orioles can get anything for Ramon Hernandez they should grab it. He has been hitting well but is a huge liability behind the plate. He is slow to get rid of the ball. His feet are slow. His throwing motion is too long and as one other person posted he is lazy behind the plate. He will try to glove a bad pitch as opposed to blocking it. His throws sail both left and right. Let Ramon go!

Dickey,
Bowie actually one of the best pitcher's parks in the minor leagues.

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/oracle/discussion/weighted_park_factors_2003_2005/

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=3289

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080130&content_id=343275&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

Making moves for this year is pointless. All decisions should be made based on 2009, 2010, and beyond. The goal for 2009 should be to have a stronger organization top to bottom than in 2008 and to prepare for 2010. If things break right and the Orioles can put together a team that can compete with the loaded AL East, great, but it's not likely to happen next year.

Long term view says that there is precious little advantage to bringing Wieters up in September. He can get what experience he needs at hitting MLB pitching next year in spring training and when he eventually gets called up to stay, whenever it is. Reimold and/or Montanez, slightly different story, though it still becomes a matter of how much are you going to play them. At least when the O's are playing contenders, they have an obligation to play to win above just getting some guys experience.

Best case scenario is Wieters starts next year in Norfolk, Ramon plays for his next contract and gets off to a good start, the O's can trade him for something of value, and Wieters becomes the starting C at the end of July.

The ONLY time I like September call-ups is either (a) a player is a major league player who was unfortunately (for him) stuck behind more deserving players, or (b) there is a genuine shortage of players at a given position --usually P.

The Orioles haven't had Situation A since Mike Boddicker. Situation B does not seem to apply at this point.

Weiters will not learn anything from Ramon.

You need to bring Weiters up in Sept and he will be your opening day starting catcher next year.

His defense is subperb along with his hitting.

Since Bowie is winning so much and has a shot at making the playoffs- I would keep Weiters, Montanez, Reimold, Bergesen, Tillman, Berken and Hernadez in AA. Maybe it would be a good idea for all these players to get a taste of what winning is like. Maybe it builds confidence and eventually when they are all up in the majors, they will know, respect, and play well with each other. It could be a very very good bonding experience for them. Guys this season is over- I wouldnt want to ruin these prospects and void them the opportunity to play in the post season after playing so hard.

It used to be that guys drafted out of college went straight to Double A or Triple A. Putting Weiters in the rookie league was 2 steps down in competition and done to placate a frustrated fan base about a great prospect. Lets see him hit in Triple A then we'll know if he's the real thing. Right now we don't anything more than when we drafted him.

Thanks for the frequent posts!
Why rush Wieters up though? Let him build confidence down in the minors. I think we'd all be pretty upset if he got barreled over and hurt trying to play like (scratch that-- unlike) Ramon.

Hey pete, what do you think about Shortstop options for the waver trading period through the offseason, are the the O's eyeing anyone elses prospects that we could trade for or is it looking like a winter FA signing.. or is it Fahey forever...

OK, Pete, I'll make the joke about blocking the plate if you won't.

The 5-sided white thing that Ramon sits behind is what he should be blocking. We already know that he hasn't blocked his own route to the round China ones, which is why it takes him so long to run 90 feet.

OK, Pete, I'll make the joke about blocking the plate if you won't.

The 5-sided white thing that Ramon sits behind is what he should be blocking. We already know that he hasn't blocked his own route to the pasta-covered round China ones, which is why it takes him so long to run 90 feet.

I don't think Ramon is as bad defensively as many here seem to think. Let's all strap on the gear and try catching the wild men on the O's staff. How many games do we see him setting up outside/inside and the 'pitcher' then throws it in the opposite direction? He's also squatting behind the dish for countless 25-30 pitch innings because of the lack of command, not to mention not too many or our hurlers have any semblance of a pick-off move so the stolen bases pile up,etc etc.
I'm not suggesting that he's the second coming of Johnny Bench but with better pitchers he's a serviceable receiver and has decent pop. I know he looks overmatched at the plate at times but overall, he gives us decent numbers--.260, 15-20 Hrs and 70 RBI.

Pete,

Any word on the Orioles 1st round pick from this year? Does this guy want to sign?

There are no cons. Bring him up in September and let him ride the pine, maybe even catch a game or two, and get used to the atmosphere and his soon-to-be teammates. If the O's are worried about starting his service time, they can always start him out at Norfolk for a month next year and then bring him up. That'll buy them an extra year of control.

Can we all agree Weiters figures into the LONG term plans? Why rush him for virtually nothing? Let him get a full season in and allow him time to rest in the offseason. I see following the same path as Evan Longoria in Tampa. He'll probably start next season in the minors and be moved up early in the year. At that point he can still impact the team, learn and the Orioles can save some of his service time.

Don't you think catcher is abit different scenario when it comes to "rushing them along"? I would think that there are a finite number of games in their legs and if he's successful at the AA level now, why not give him a look in Sept?

I think that the ability of Hernandez to "call the game" is the great unknown. i suggets that the performance of the bullpen prior to the injury bug was an indicator that RH does his homework in this most important regard. The number of double plays turned over by a team is also a good indicator . Quite often , the catcher deserves an assist. Give Hernandez credit for what he is notwithstanding his lackadaisical approach. Also , I notice Quiroz has 3 PB's in not an awful lot of appearances . I guess we can chalk that up to rust.

Getting ready to head to Seattle for tomorrows and Sundays game . The starting pitcher on Sunday is....?

You said Wieters hasn't played anywhere near this deep into a season. If they did call him up in September, it wouldn't be to play every day, so wouldn't it be beneficial for him to gain some big league experience, while resting, say, every other day or so (alternating with the existing catchers)?

"Learn a few things from Ramon Hernandez?" Are you kidding? Ramon Hernandez is the reason we will not see Wieters this year! This organization will not and should not expose this blue-chipper to the likes of Hernandez. Give him a fresh start in Spring Training when several of this stale, crusty, uninspired salary-bleeding veterans are gone.

at this point after bowie's season why not bring him up and let him experience the major leagues for a few moments. as far as learning from ramon h. stop right there. ramon is lazy. though he can learn what not do do. i would prefer the o's to play quoriz (sic). at least he gives the pitchers a target to pitch at. the bottom line wieters is going to be the starting catcher next year.

Ramon does have his problems but his bat has been heating up. I say put him on waivers and if nobody trys to trade for him than let him catch the rest of the year and leave Weiters in AA and work with the pitchers he will be catching at the big level for a while.

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