Would Matt Wieters be a good fit for the LA Angels?
The LA Angels made a lot of moves this offseason that helped bolster their line-up in hopes of helping the Angels compete for the AL West. However, there is one more move that could put them over the top: Sign free agent Matt Wieters.
The LA Angels went with a three-headed catcher last season of Carlos Perez, Geovany Soto, and rookie Jett Bandy and it failed miserably on the offensive side as Soto was ok at the plate but was injured most of the season. Carlos Perez hit only .209 with five homers and 31 RBI’s and Bandy hit .234 with eight homers and 25 RBI’s.
Wieters had 17 homers and 66 RBI’s with a .243 batting average. Plus he is a switch-hitter hitting more from the left side of the plate. Wieters hit .248 with 14 homers and 51 RBI’s from the left-side of the plate which is what the Angels desperately need. Wieters is also a four-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove Winner.
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With the Angels getting rid of both Jett Bandy and Geovany Soto and now only have Perez and Martin Maldonado who hit a combined .205 last season. So Wieters would be a major upgrade and he could also be used as a designated hitter some games as well.
However, the Angels could be priced out of the market for Wieters as his agent is the known-money hungry agent Scott Boras. This move though makes so much sense for the Angels that I think they should pay this price to bolster their line-up.
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Overall in his career Wieters has hit .256 with 117 homers and 437 RBI’s and a .318 OBP. Defensively Wieters has a career .992 fielding percentage and has thrown out 33% of would-be-base stealers. Plus Wieters is still relatively young as he just turned 30.
If the Angels can get Wieters to agree to a short-term deal say three years then it would allow both minor league catching prospects Matt Thaiss and Taylor Ward to develop into a major-league ready catcher.
So what are the chances the Angels will sign Wieters? I would say it is about a 50-50 chance that it will happen. Hopefully Arte Moreno will allow general manager Billy Eppler the resources to sign Wieters, but only time will tell.
