omg. no. please no.

Well Angelos and AM must be happy about this. A not severe injury that will enable them to keep him off MLB rosters till after his super 2 eligibility is gone so they can avoid the question of why aren't they promoting him.

Lucky day indeed for those two gentlemen not so lucky the rest of us.

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Pete's reply: That's silly. They're just as excited about him coming up as you are.

Pete, please stay on top of this story. I almost had a heart attack looking at the headline.

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Pete's reply: The Orioles are saying it's nothing serious, but it's still a hamstring, so it could be a week or two. They don't want another Melvin Mora situation where he's grappling with it for a month because he doesn't want to sit down.

I honestly don't think so. It is not my money, it is PA's money. I would not be surprised if keeping him away from super 2 status would not save PA around 10 million dollars over the length of Matt's time with the O's if he goes to arbitration every year.

Remember each arbitration award is to some degree predicated on what the player made before so a year one arbitration award of lets say 2.5 million as opposed to say .5 million if the O's renew him would cascade over all the arbitration years.

Outside of the O's I have seen no one of the opinion that Wieters NEEDS time in AAA to work on anything. There is I think no doubt that the big league club would be better with him, ergo the only reason to keep him down is money.

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Pete's reply: No one denied the first 12 days was for service time reasons. I don't think they would keep him down over the Super-2 situation. Just my opinion. And I have talked to plenty of baseball people who think catching a month at Triple-A is a good idea.

Pete, it's gonna be tough for all of us to comment on this one, unless our laptops get good Wi-Fi reception out on the ledge of the highest building in town...

i think basemonkey fell out of his tree

Hey Schmuck, you're being way too kind calling the comment by that idiot who posted that Angelos and MacPhail are happy with the Wieters injury as "silly." I say it's down right moronic. What a fool. Let's see...Angelos spent $30 million on Wieters and he wants him to get injured and not play. Like the Orioles are going to win this year anyway. Some people are just plain stupid.

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Pete's reply: I agree, but it was $6 million for Wieters.

Wieters should show he can dominate at the AAA level before they bring him up. What does that say about an organization to promote a prospect who is hitting .220? The only way it hurts the big club is if you believe Chad Moeller is snake bitten since every time he catches we have given up 11 runs twice and 19 runs with him catching.

Everybody gets a small injury from time to time. Lets not hope this becomes a habit.

Hey O's fan I say if you don't think PA would trade a hamstring cramp for 10 million you are beyond naive. This isn't an injury injury, this is something you might do mowing the lawn that makes you limp for an hour. It is the perfect excuse for them to hold him back even tho
1-Zaun can't throw anyone out
2-Zaun is hitting .136 coming into tonight's game
3-the pitching is so bad there is no way Wieter's supposed weakness in pitch selection could make it worse.

Wieters is clearly better then what is at the major league level, there is no signs that being promoted sooner rather then later would impede his development.

The only reason to keep him down is monetary now that the O's are guaranteed seven years service time.

For the record thanks for the kind words in regards to my intellect. Honestly I have never understood the joy folks get out of anonymously insulting folks they don't know.

Peter are personal attacks allowed on this blog? I am just curious.

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Pete's reply: I guess so, you've been blasting Peter Angelos pretty good.

Infielders and outfielders have dangerous jobs kind of like tennis players: always a chance you could pull or twist something. Catchers have jobs like rodeo cowboys: Injuries are going to happen, and serious injuries are always possible. I hate it, but it's a fact. Years ago I sat cross-legged on the floor playing Candyland with my daughter for about an hour, and I had trouble standing up. I rank what catchers do night after night as one of the most amazing physical achievements in sports. (Way ahead of that Olympic thing where you prance around and wave a ribbon over your head!)

We've got two AAA outfielders hitting over 400 and one with power and I have to watch Freel and Pie? Our Ace gets rocked for 8 runs and I have to watch Adam Eaton Saturday? And our stud catcher who is better than either of the two guys on our major league roster gets hurt in a AAA game! Say it ain't so! And they call this professional baseball, with "smart" baseball men????? We've let too many extenuating circumstances make roster decisions in lieu of putting the best 24 guys on the O's roster! If were rebuilding for the next two years and won't spend an money, lower the box seats to $15 because with our pitching it's worse than Norfolk!

Now I can panic? The Orioles just lost me tonight for the entire season. It's all just BS! No excuse for it ... none whatsoever. Spotted a 7-0 lead and Guthrie turns immediately to CRAP. For 11 years now it's just all been the same exact thing.....REALLY LOUSY baseball. Walks, errors, wasted grand slams, you name it. Panic? Hell no, see you next year. Tonight PROVES that this is still the exact same pack of losers.

Good Day ,Mr. Schmuck,
I can not believe that all these fans can be so naive about a players training progress. Maybe they can't remember or never had the ego or talent to excell in something at an early age. Keeping Weiters at AAA is just as important as keeping a pitcher there. Egos can be very fragile things. The difference between AA and AAA is very sharp. We need Weiters to be very confident once he gets to the Orioles. Just look at all the weight he will be carryiing. Just the Second Coming of Ripken Palmer, Murray and both Robinsons' all rolled into ONE. WHEW!!!!!!!

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Pete's reply: Very good point.

Peter Schmuck,Angelos lover?

What's a Gwinnett? ;)

the first 12 days make sense, nobody's keeping wieters in the minors for the super2...if it were me, i'd keep him down all year to catch the guys he's gonna catch in a couple years with the big club. why make your biggest prospect crouch through what could be a historically bad year for the o's staff?

I don't understand how you can be a fan of an organization, yet want them to waste money. What's wrong with holding Wieters down until he passes the Super 2 date? The money the O's save in arbitration with him could be spent on an additional relief pitcher, for example. Some people here act like smart business practices are somehow evil.

Pete,

I beg to disagree! How is that fellow Evan Longoria working out? And there was that guy Al Kaline or Willie Mays, they had pretty respectable careers if my memory serves me correctly! Wieters according to most respected authorities was a top 5 catcher in all of baseball before this spring training. He excelled in a tough ACC, A, AA, winter league and Spring Training, the decision about his development was nothing more than a financial issue for the continuous Orioles Front Office. Do we not think that Scott Boras and Wieters won't remember this treatment? For those of you who say no, your awfully naive! This little manuver will SURELY boomerang and down the road when the warehouse is seeking another hometown discount, another fine player will walk away and the naive fan base will again blame the player like they did Musina, Ryan, Texiera when the blind devotion to the Warehouse braintrust will again have sold us out! Let's start doing the right thing, not the economically efficient! GET SOME PITCHERS!

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Pete's reply: That fellow Longoria was handled exactly the way the O's are handling Wieters.

"Keeping Weiters at AAA is just as important as keeping a pitcher there."

Just like Markakis needed time at AAA, or Braun, or Longoria, or Kershaw, or Zimmerman.

High A to AA is the important jump these days. AAA has a significant amount of AAAA guys waiting for an injury to the big league club. More and more top prospects are making token appearences at AAA.

I think Greg Zaun is one of our best defensive catchers in many years.

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Pete's reply: Now that he's throwing some people out, it certainly seems that way.

"Pete's reply: That fellow Longoria was handled exactly the way the O's are handling Wieters."

No he wasn't Pete. Longoria was called up the first day in which the Rays were insured the 7th year of team control. Matt was not called up yesterday now was he?

Now section 34 you question why an O's fan might want Wieters up now instead of after super 2

1- Its not my money, if I was PA I would probably hold him back to save myself money

2-perception- the O's have a perception right now f being cheap, I don't personally think they are but lots of folks do, holding him back to avoid super 2 is a cheap move, I know I thought less of the Reds when they did it last year to Jay Bruce.

3-National media, the team with Matt on it is a lot more enticing to the national media. Good press can only help with free agents and draft picks.

4- Reward for the fans, 11 years is 11 years give folks something new to look at, who knows maybe attendence and tv ratings will go up!

The company line is the money doesn't matter, they should prove it and promote him for the first home game after he is recovered.

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Pete's reply: Jeff, be serious. The guy isn't Evan Longoria, he's just being handled like him -- though I guess it's important to argue the semantics over which day he was due up. They signed Zaun to play a month or so and they said from the outset that Wieters would spend one or two months in Triple-A. Despite you're assumption, which was based on nothing but the desire to see him quickly, I've yet to run into one scout from another club who said "Jeez, why isn't he up yet?" He's a catcher. That's different from a third baseman in a lot of ways. If they bring him up just because the fans are eager to see him, then they would be guilty of the same mismanagement as every other front office that has contributed to this trainwreck. Have you learned anything from the past failures except how to use them as a reason to perpetuate them?

Well Pete if Wieters ends up getting super 2 staus then I will do my best to remember that I was wrong and will admit so on your blog. If he is called up within lets say a week of missing super 2 status will you admit that was the cause of the delay?

This is of course dependent on his health.

I don't just want to see him btw, I want a better team and he gives them one.

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Pete's reply: Guess we'll see.

Gosh- Sometimes you have to face reality. Everyone needs to relax a little. Obvious they are going to stick to a plan like it or not. They did not get a proven starter, and they will not make any moves to improve the staff except to get them moved up or down in their own system.
1. Weiters needs to have more time recouping then continue his progress at Norfolk. This is not an emergency to get him here, what is the big deal? Do you think he will put the Orioles in first place? Do you think the pitchers will be better because they have Matt catching.
2. Hernandez was not as bad as people say or perceive. It is not his fault that the Oriole pitchers last year were slow to the plate, horrible at holding runners. Sure he had his issues but face it, he had a staff last year that had Guthrie and a bunch of guys that were thrown in the rotation because they had a pulse. Remember the rotation averaged one new pitcher a week.
3. I agree with the statement about two better outfielders at Norfolk, but they have options. Getting Freel was not the best or worst thing for the club. Pie is another story. Really getting more playing time than I like.But if Mora was healthy and could play third now, then maybe Wiggenton would get more time at DH and Scott in left. I really believe that you earn time on a team, not be given time.
4. Hey be happy, the future will be here, and they will have issues also adjusting. But at least they are not going to be has beens.

Well Pete if Wieters ends up getting super 2 staus then I will do my best to remember that I was wrong and will admit so on your blog. If he is called up within lets say a week of missing super 2 status will you admit that was the cause of the delay?

Gosh- Sometimes you have to face reality. Everyone needs to relax a little. Obvious they are going to stick to a plan like it or not. They did not get a proven starter, and they will not make any moves to improve the staff except to get them moved up or down in their own system.