Matt Wieters to debut Friday

May 27, 5:19 PMMLB ExaminerAlex Brown

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Matt Wieters has finally arrived in Baltimore – well, he’ll arrive on Friday, according to team President Andy McPhail.  The Orioles top positional prospect and American League Rookie of the Year favorite has been in the minor leagues thus far due to the team’s determination to control costs and keep the slugging catcher from declaring early free agency.  Any Orioles fan will tell you – it’s about time.

First – why the delay?  Well, the Orioles are calling up Wieters late to avoid him becoming a Super Two player, which means he’ll go to salary arbitration three times instead of four, en route to becoming a free agent in 2015.  This has become common for teams wanting to control their young talent – Atlanta has done the same thing in delaying the arrival of Tommy Hanson in their starting rotation.

What does this mean for the Orioles?  Well, Wieters is certainly better than Gregg Zaun or Chad Moeller.  He will also provide the team with their biggest homegrown star in a while, if all goes well.  The delayed call-up certainly doesn’t mean much, as the O’s weren’t going to compete in 2009 anyway.  All in all, it was a good move to hold Wieters back for a bit this year, in order to save some money down the road when they will truly be able to compete.