{"id":3892,"date":"2017-02-21T16:37:51","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T21:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/?p=3892"},"modified":"2017-02-21T16:37:51","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T21:37:51","slug":"nationals-sign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2017\/02\/21\/nationals-sign\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Nationals Sign Catcher Matt Wieters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After months of rumors and speculation, the Washington Nationals have finally found their starting catcher. According to Jon Heyman, the Nationals and former Baltimore Orioles backstop <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wietema01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Wieters<\/a><\/strong> have agreed to a two year\/ 21 million dollar deal.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Wieters&#39; salary will be $10.5M each year year of the 2-year deal (but he can opt out after 1 year), once finalized. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/nats?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#nats<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JonHeyman\/status\/834106287508041729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 21, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Washington Nationals Sign Catcher <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wietema01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Wieters<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The deal also includes an opt out after year one.<\/p>\n<p>The Nationals have been long interested in Wieters, and this deal finally gets them their guy behind the plate.<\/p>\n<p>Wieters will instantly become the Nationals starting catcher, and will be a welcomed addition. Considering that he&#8217;s a very good defensive catcher, Wieters should do wonders for the veterans in the Nationals rotation, as well as their younger arms such as <strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rossjo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Ross<\/a><\/strong><\/strong> and even <strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.cgi?id=fedde-000eri&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Erick Fedde<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>. Wieters will also make his presence felt in the lineup.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the fact that he missed 38 games, Wieters was still able to drive in 66 runs, in addition to hitting 17 home runs last year. Wieters has also been an impact bat in years past.<\/p>\n<p>From 2011-2013, Wieters hit 20 or more home runs a year, and also drove in over 65 runs in each of those three seasons. The power numbers are there, the biggest question though is whether he&#8217;ll remain healthy.<\/p>\n<p>In both 2014 and 2015, Wieters failed to appear in at least 80 games. The injuries have plagued him in year&#8217;s past, and the Nationals will be hoping that he doesn&#8217;t fall into the trap yet again. Wieters&#8217; arrival\u00a0also brings into question what moves may be next for the Nationals?<\/p>\n<p>With Wieters on board, the Nationals now have four catchers\u00a0on their roster: Wieters, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lobatjo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jose Lobaton<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/severpe01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pedro Severino<\/a><\/strong><\/strong> and <strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/n\/norride01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Derek Norris<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>. The Nationals acquired Norris near the Winter Meetings, and it was assumed that he&#8217;d be their starter going into this year; however, with Wieters aboard, could Norris or even Severino become trade bait for a closer upgrade?<\/p>\n<p>While they appear to be comfortable going with <strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kellesh01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shawn Kelley<\/a><\/strong><\/strong> and <strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/treinbl01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blake Treinen<\/a><\/strong><\/strong> in\u00a0the ninth inning, the Nationals could now use their depth at catcher to help facilitate a trade for a closer. Names who have been rumored to be available include <strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/roberda08.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Robertson<\/a><\/strong><\/strong> or <strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/colomal01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Colome<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The Nationals addition of Wieters gives them a big impact bat in the order, but only if he&#8217;s healthy. One must also wonder if this signing makes way for another move?<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/613367972\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 64.983165% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/613367972?et=1g04dMHRSpdrSqxiCizdfA&amp;viewMoreLink=on&amp;sig=JSxcj7aJ2E4i0vqWV4h31iPnS3LZyhffSNnx7sSyGDQ=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"386\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After months of rumors and speculation, the Washington Nationals have finally found their starting catcher. According to Jon Heyman, the Nationals and former Baltimore Orioles backstop Matt Wieters have agreed to a two year\/ 21 million dollar deal. Wieters&#39; salary will be $10.5M each year year of the 2-year deal (but he can opt out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1631,"featured_media":3898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35,19],"tags":[258,68,571,542,941,484,69,38],"class_list":["post-3892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nationals","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baseball","tag-derek-norris","tag-featured","tag-latest-mlb-news","tag-matt-wieters","tag-mlb","tag-washington-nationals"],"modified_by":"Sean Couch (Senior Editor)","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}