Maybe Jeffery Hammonds?

"Pete's reply: I think his weight is making him get old ahead of his time, but I don't think he's done."

You don't think that maybe it has to do with "medication"? From the rumors it sounds like the RedSox certainly had more than a few players using PEDs.

Considering that the O's are calling up Wieters within a couple of days (after) the super 2 deadline for service time can I get you to agree with me that the money was the primary factor for the timing of his callup?

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Pete's reply: No. They may have called him up before it. There's no way to know for sure.

Pete:

Is Reimold just getting the day off or is there a problem? HOPE NOT!! Once again the O's willl have an 0for from the 7,8, and 9 hole!! Get rid of Pie and Zahn.

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Pete's reply: He's getting the day off against the toughest right-hander in the league.

I remember when Big Ben came up and pitched a shutout in his first start. It was very exciting. Injuries and confidence just caught up with him: he always showed dynamic stuff but he could just never sustain it. I knew a guy who talked to Elrod once, and Elrod said that Ben just didn't have the mental toughness to deal with injuries or the risk of injuries. From what they say about Weiters, he won't have that sort of attitude problem. Still, it is his first year, and I think our expectations about his production should be tempered a bit.

Quoted from

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

"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."

Case in point Guthrie had 130 and he missed it.

If anything Reimold and Price coming up before him help the O's. I find it very hard to even consider that the O's would wait this long and not be 100% sure.

Of course if you want to wait a few years and then tell me I am right, I am ok with that. Assuming of course we are both still here.

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Pete's reply: Okay, you're right. If I was the O's, I would have done it, but they say it wasn't a priority.

Jeff V,
Not to belabor the point, but citing MLBTRADERUMORS.COM as a source is hardly a damning piece of evidence.

It was started a few years ago by a 20-something kid in Chicago still in college, not an experienced veteran of the media who has connections to baseball execs. It describes itself as a portal that mashes up links to other journalistic sources but its authors also drop plenty of editorial bombs here and there. It's opinions. It's not even opinions based on off-the-record conversations with insiders. I think a REPORTER like Pete would be a better source since:

1. He actually is a journalist.
2. He does speak with the people making these decisions.
3. Oftentimes mlbtraderumors quotes journalists like Peter as their source.

So, let's not get it backwards. To cite a mash-up site as a source is like correcting the dictionary with your spelling.

I was citing them specificly for the info on super 2 canidates from the last three seasons. I am very aware of the site's strengths and weaknesses.

The man is a fan but he does do his research. I did not have the desire to go through myself and check service time for everyone and I am sure that his number crunching is correct.

The damming piece of evidence is the timing of the promotion. They picked a date within a couple of days of the cut off. They annouced it on a tuesday that he is coming up on friday in the middle of a series with a team. Why friday on day five of a seven day homestand?

I don't blame them for holding him back, they may have saved themselves in the realm of 20 million dollars over the course of arbitration, I am just calling them out on it being the main factor.

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Pete's reply: I'll give you the timing, but I'm not buying it as the main factor. If that really mattered, why wouldn't they have done the same thing with Reimold? Or Bergesen? Or whoever. Is it possible they thought it would be nice to let him dominate at Triple-A for a month or two? Does everything have to have some deep dark underpining?

I don't think its deep or dark Peter, I think it just made too much sense from a monetary standpoint.

Reimold and Bergesen are nice enough players and I hope they do well but they are not in the same catagory as Wieters. A quality player reaching super 2 status is not the same as a superstar. Look at what happened with Howard in Philly.

Wieters also has Boras as an agent, which I think has a lot to do with how this is being handled. There is a lot lower chance of him signing a long term deal then the other prospects that have been promoted this season.

Really didn't mean to get you involved again Peter, I was just trying to explain my use of sources to Basemonkey with my last post.