Weiters was moved to Bowie!!!

For any of those fans that think Matt Weiters will be a  September call up, it will not happen and I can give you one clear reason for it.  It will up his major league service time and expose him quicker to salary arbitration and free agency.  The Orioles plans show they will continue to go through salary arbitration on all players.  Why you say?  Nick Markakis is still in this mode.  They have not gone the route of the Rays with Evan Longoria or a few other teams.  I am not quite sure, but with this in mind it makes no fiscal sense to expose him now.

BTW, this kid played winter ball in Hawaii and has been going non stop.  Why continue to put more innings on those knees at such a pre-mature stage?

Guys, please think inside of the box.  We want him long term to become a great player.  It means keeping his innings down while he is still learning.  Keep him fresh and send him to Sarasota a week or two after Bowie wraps up its' season.  Work on his approach to the plate.  Bringing him up in September just places more stress on his shoulders at the moment.  Let him grow into the Organization.  He has yet to play a full season in the minors.

I stressed that he should have been in high A and in the second half of the season, let him work out of Bowie.  Even if he is lights out in AA, he needs to stay and work with future staff pitchers Chris Tillman, Choyne Spoonye, and David Hernandez.  Jake Arreita will be up soon and I think Brandon Erbe will see a cup of coffee late in the season and for the AA playoffs. 

The Orioles are letting him grow into greatness.  It builds his confidence and allows him to establish himself with future teammates.  I think the Orioles are approaching his situation perfectly.  They have Ramon Hernandez as the every day catcher.  His 8 million a season salary means he will stay this season and most likely open up as the starting catcher next season.  I think sometime mid 2009 is when everyone will see Wieters in Baltimore.

Under older MLB/MLBPA agreements, it was a loophole and as when rosters expanded it did not count as an optional assignment.   Under the new CBA of 2007-2011, it states that anytimes a player is placed on an active roster it will count towards a day of Major League Service.  It is discourage teams from trying to wait til May to call up players or wait until rosters expand to get good looks on farm hands.  It favors the young guys of not getting abused and used by management for two or three years until they are completely ready to take over on the major league team.  There are also other provisions that acclerate the service time for players, such as the rules of Super 2 players.  These examples are Ryan Howard, and soon to be Prince Fielder. 

Nick Markakis just fell short because the team waited til 2006 to bring him up to the majors.  If he had played a few games he would have more than 2 years of service time and his numbers would have qualified as a Super 2.  This means his first year of arbitration would have been this season and now it is 2009.

If Matt Wieters is brought up in September and plays in 30 games.  He performs well in 2009 and 2010.  His clock was set already and he enters arbitration in 2011.  If they take a similar approach to Nick, he hits his first year of arbitration in 2012.  The Orioles control his rights through 2016.  Simply calling him up to fill in a game or two a week will jump the gun on him.

Let say they wait until June next year to call him up.  He is one the hook with Super 2 status in 2011 and the team would control his rights until 2017.  You call him up now, it is 2015 that he could leave the Orioles.  Wait until June 1, 2009.  It is until 2017.

Either way, I would rather see him rest after his season is up.  Why risk the injury when the games are meaningless.  He has been playing baseball since October strait, let the kid rest.