Thursday, the Baltimore Orioles helped to secure a backup for catcher Matt Wieters(notes) when they worked out a deal with the Texas Rangers for Taylor Teagarden(notes). Baltimore sent minor league pitcher Randy Henry to Texas along with a player to be named.

Teagarden, who will be 28 near the end of December, has spent his four years in the majors with Texas. In 14 games during the 2011 season, Teagarden hit .235 in 34 at bats. Teagarden showed some potential during his first season in Texas back in 2008 when he hit .319 in 16 games with six home runs and 17 runs batted in. For his major league career, Teagarden has an average of .220 with 16 home runs and 49 runs batted in.

Teagarden will be backing up starter and Gold Glove winner Matt Wieters who is coming off a great 2011 season. Wieters hit 22 home runs with 68 runs batted in while hitting .262 for Baltimore.

Baltimore was looking to acquire a backup catcher with some pop. Craig Tatum(notes) was the backup to Wieters in 2011, and in 31 games, Tatum hit .195 with no home runs in 87 at bats.

Texas gets relief pitcher Henry who pitched well for the Frederick Keys and Delmarva Shorebirds in 2011. In 29 games last year, Henry posted a 2.22 ERA to go along with his 4-3 record. One note of interest about Henry is his control. In 52.2 innings pitched in 2011, Henry struck out 40 batters while only walking eight. The 21 year old Henry will turn 22 in early May, 2012.

Baltimore also announced that Pedro Viola(notes) was designated for assignment. Viola has spent the past two seasons in Baltimore but has only thrown five innings for the Orioles and has given up six earned runs while striking out seven and walking three.

The trade for Baltimore marks the first trade by Dan Duquette, the new VP of Baseball Operations for the Orioles. The move is yet another deal that has been done with the Rangers, as Baltimore and Texas have been swapping players since the trade deadline last season. During last July, Baltimore sent Koji Uehara(notes) to Texas in return for Tommy Hunter(notes) and Chris Davis(notes) before they sent Mike Gonzalez heading south for Pedro Strop(notes).

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REFS:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-orioles-rangerstrade

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Baltimore Orioles’ catcher Matt Wieters(notes) finished his 2011 season in style by winning a Gold Glove. Wieters was joined by teammate Nick Markakis(notes) as both Orioles won their first Gold Gloves.

Matt Wieters wins his first Gold Glove.
Andrew Mindzak

Wieters had a great year behind the plate for Baltimore, as he handled a very inconsistent pitching staff while gunning down runners at a rate of 37%. One amazing stat was that Wieters only allowed one passed ball all year, which is amazing when you consider he had to catch pitchers with less than stellar control.

Wieters also had a great year at the plate for Baltimore. On the season, Wieters hit .262 with a career high 22 home runs and 68 runs batted in. Wieters also set career highs in runs with 72 and doubles with 28. Another area Wieters improved upon were his strikeouts. During the 2010 season Wieters struck out 94 times in 446 at bats, but in 2011, Wieters struck out only 84 times in 500 at bats.

Another area Wieters excelled at was clutch situations. During the course of the 2011 season, Wieters hit .321 with runners in scoring position. Wieters also finished the season strong. Before the All Star break, Wieters hit eight home runs in 276 at bats, but after the break, he hit 14 home runs in only 224 at bats.

Wieters was fourth amongst American League catchers with his 22 home runs and his 72 runs were tied for third with Mike Napoli(notes). Amongst qualified catchers, Wieters’ .262 average was good for third behind Victor Martinez(notes) and Alex Avila(notes).

Heading into the offseason, Wieters will enter his first year of arbitration and should be getting a bit of a raise this winter from the $452,000 he was making in 2011.

Hopefully this winter the Orioles starting rotation can get healthy. Brian Matusz(notes) was banged up all year and Jake Arrieta(notes) started off pitching well but got hurt and missed a lot of time. If they can stay healthy and with Matt Wieters behind the plate, the Orioles can start to build on their young talent and climb out of the AL East cellar.

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I currently cover the Baltimore Orioles for the Baltimore Guide.

REFS:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wietema01.shtml

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Rawlings announced their 2011 Gold Glove winners on Tuesday. Among the first time winners were Baltimore Orioles teammates Matt Wieters(notes) and Nick Markakis(notes). It was another long season in Birdland but it is nice to see the duo rewarded for their efforts.

The Gold Glove has lost some of its luster in the last few years as advanced defensive metrics like Ultimate Zone Rating and dWAR have become more widely accepted. Detractors like to point to Derek Jeter(notes) winning numerous Gold Gloves when there were far superior shortstops in the American League as reason to discount the validity of the awards. I think it’s important to remember that the awards are sponsored by Rawlings. In essence the Gold Gloves are just another promotional campaign for the equipment manufacturer. So yeah, maybe Rawlings awarded Jeter some Gold Gloves even though he wasn’t as good as Jack Wilson(notes). Unfortunately no one wanted Jack Wilson’s name on their new Rawlings glove.

Markakis finally winning his first Gold Glove this year is a bit ironic because, despite posting excellent defensive seasons in the past, 2011 was probably the worst defensive season of his career by sabermetric standards. He did record 14 outfield assists and did not make an error in 325 chances in right field, but his defensive WAR was actually -0.4 for the season. Markakis may not be the best right fielder in the American League, but his Gold Glove is a bit of good news that O’s fans can relish for a few days before the next front office debacle hits the headlines.

Wieters is a bit of a different story from Markakis. Wieters legitimately is the best catcher in the American League and he didn’t need a Gold Glove to prove it. Wieters, though still maturing at the plate, has been a rock behind it for Baltimore. Orioles games can no doubt be brutal to watch at times, but it is always a pleasure to watch Wieters work his magic behind the dish. If the Gold Glove isn’t proof enough of Wieters value as a defender, he was also named the Fielding Bible Award winner at Catcher for his excellent handling of pitchers and 37% caught stealing rate.

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Read More: Jim Johnson (P – BAL), Jamey Wright (P – SEA), Jack Wilson (2B – SEA), Kevin Gregg (P – BAL), Miguel Olivo (C – SEA), J.J. Hardy (SS – BAL), Adam Jones (CF – BAL), Matt Wieters (C – BAL), Brian Matusz (P – BAL), Koji Uehara (P – BAL), Michael Pineda (P – SEA), Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners

Despite another strong performance by Michael Pineda, the Mariners (28-27) were unable to come up with enough offense to complete a three game home series sweep at Safeco Field over the Baltimore Orioles (25-29).

Both teams got on the board early in the second inning. In the top of the second, Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy hit a solo home run into left field off of Pineda that landed in the Orioles bullpen.

The Mariners then got on the board in the bottom of the second after a two out Jack Wilson single that drove in Miguel Olivo from second. Center fielder Adam Jones fielded Wilson’s single and threw it perfectly to the Orioles catcher, Matt Wieters. However, Olivo then collided with Wieters at the plate and knocked the ball out of Wieters’ glove, scoring the Mariners first and only run of the game.

After Orioles starter Brian Matusz exited the game in the sixth inning, Orioles relievers Jim Johnson, Koji Uehara and Kevin Gregg kept the Mariners scoreless for the rest of the game. For the Mariners, Pineda struck out seven and only surrendered one walk and one earned run in seven innings of work against the Orioles.

The two teams would stay tied at 1-1 until the top of the eighth inning when Adam Jones launched his seventh home run of the season off of Jamey Wright into the upper deck of left field. The Mariners offense was unable to come up with any late inning offensive magic similar to Tuesday night’s win and fell 2-1 to the Orioles.

For more news and information regarding the Mariners head on over to SB Nation’s Mariners blog, Lookout Landing.

Miguel Olivo is playing some hard-nosed baseball again today, though he probably didn’t need to smack into O’s catcher Matt Wieters on that second-inning single by Jack Wilson to tie things up 1-1. Olivo led off with a single, tagged and took second on a flyout to center, then scored when Adam Jones made a poor throw home on Wilson’s hit. Wieters gave Olivo most of the plate, save for leaving a foot hanging back there. The catcher had to reach for the ball and could have swept his glove back for a tag had he actually caught the throw.

But he didn’t. Olivo slammed into him anyhow. No words were exchanged. The play was probably a lot tougher to decipher for Olivo in real-time, since, as I mentioned, Wieters could have tried to reach back and tag him had he caught the ball.

Botom line is, we’re all tied up heading to the third.

1:04 p.m.: Michael Pineda is singlehandedly sustaining the career of J.J. Hardy at this point. OK, maybe that’s a tad dramatic, but Hardy just hit a solo homer to left off Pineda with one out in the second inning to give Baltimore a 1-0 lead.

Hardy has three homers this season and two have now come off Pineda.

12:56 p.m.: Ichiro at DH? He’s cured! Not really, though he did bloop a chip-shot single between the infielders and center fielder Adam Jones to lead off the first. Unfortunately for the M’s, Brendan Ryan popped out and Justin Smoak grounded into a 5-4-3 double-play. The highlight of that was Nick Markakis scooping the ball out of the dirt as first base, Markakis today is making his first pro start at first.

On the plus side, Michael Pineda also stranded the runner after a leadoff single in the top of the first by Felix Pie. Pineda ended the inning with a nice strikeout on left Matt Wieters — getting him to swing way out in front on an 83 mph slider.

12:38 p.m.: The Mariners open today a game out of first place after Texas beat Tampa Bay 3-0. Seattle also has a chance to sweep the Baltimore Orioles. Michael Pineda takes the mound.

Seattle posted the league’s third-best record in May, going 15-11.