Once Matt Wieters became an unrestricted free agent this off-season he was linked to the Washington Nationals mainly for the Boras connection as Matt Wieters agent is Scott Boras.
What was worrisome were Wieters’ statistics with the large drop-off in the second half of the 2016 season at a .227/.294/.399/.693 slash after a .728 OPS in the first half, but then factor in his road stats away from the hitter-friendly confines of Camden Yards where Wieters slugging (power) percentage dipped by 65 points, you have a recipe that might not work at all in Nationals Park.
The good news is that Wieters is a clear upgrade over Jose Lobaton and could form a platoon with Derek Norris who lifetime has an all-star slash against left-handed pitchers of .276/ .353/ .453/ .806 which begins to make a lot of sense if Rizzo would consider a platoon.
A silver lining of sorts was that Wieters reversed his career trends and as a switch-hitter had a resurgence against right-handed pitchers in 2016 with much more power. Clearly in sample sizes that you get for one season, Wieters of course got more at-bats against right-handed pitchers and had 14 home runs against righties versus 3 home runs against left-handed pitchers. Wieter’s 2016 OPS against right-handed pitchers was a healthy 82 points higher and that is what you look to when thinking about this signing working as the sum of all parts exceeding the whole.
If a strict platoon was used, a Wieters/Norris platoon could put up numbers near what Ramos put up last season. There is no telling what Mike Rizzo has planned as he has never been a proponent in the past of platoons. On the other hand, Dusty Baker with the Cincinnati Reds had a platoon in left field.
The other notes that should be mentioned is Wieters had Tommy-John surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right throwing elbow. The other note of record is that the Nationals 40-man roster is full and a signing of Wieters will need to be accompanied by a corresponding DFA/Trade to free up a spot.
The proposed deal with Wieters is 2-years with an opt-out clause.
Source: Wieters with #Nationals is two years, $21M, with opt-out after year one. Will get $10M in 2017, $11M if he returns in ’18.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 21, 2017
The newest rumor is $10.5 million for each season with an opt-out and $5 million deferred.
$5 million of the $21 million in Matt Wieters' deal with the Nationals is deferred.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) February 21, 2017
Norris said he is still approaching this as a competition, still wants to start, and will work that way.
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) February 21, 2017
