Atlanta Braves Off Season Trouble Spot – Catcher

Oct 4, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles catcher Matt Wieters (32) stands at home plate during the eighth inning against the New York Yankees at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Orioles won 9-4. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

No Wieters either

I think signing Matt Wieters is a pipe dream. Although he had a down season it was a direct result of his TJ surgery limiting his ability to get in shape at the plate. Behind the plate Witers is a mixed bag. He threw out just over 30% of base runners this year and is pretty good at blocking the ball but Stat Corner is not a fan of his pitch framing abilities. Then there’s his size, at 6’5 and 230 pound he’s a monster sized catcher. Catchers that big end up as a DH or a first baseman and we have need for neither.

The Orioles will make a QO to Wieters and no one has yet accepted one of those but he could be the first. The $15.8M contract would be a big pillow and allow him to hit the market again next year without the QO hanging over him.  He is a Scot Boras client however and the idea the Boras would recommend such a strategy is at best out of character. If he does reject it Boras will likely ask for and get a contract like Brian McCann’s but with a larger bottom line; something with an AAV of $17M in the neighborhood of five years at $85M or six years $102M. That sized contract is not in the Braves plans.