Rumor: Could Matt Wieters become an Angel?

The Angels already traded away their best cool-name player, Jett Bandy, back in December for Martin Maldanado of the Brewers. That trade had mixed reviews and left me wondering if there was going to be more to it. Well, apparently, the Angels have interest in free agent Matt Wieters which must leave Carlos Perez wondering WTF?

Rumors are floating around the Angels are interested in Wieters and that is something, considering there has been very little talk surrounding him.

There is no doubt that Maldanado was acquired because of his defensive skills and pitch framing ability, and if the Angels are looking at Wieters, it would be because of his bat. Wieters is not a great pitch framer, but he’s solid on defense and has a pretty good bat. He hit 17 HRs last year with a .243 average (which was below his career norm). He’s a 4-time all-star, including in 2016 and he was back-to-back gold gloves in 2011-2012 back before he had TJ surgery.

Money would be an issue here as Wieters made 15.8 million last year, though certainly he won’t get that much in 2017, and the Angels would probably be better suited spending that money on pitching (though available options are few). Also, Wieters is represented by Scott Boras who is notorious for good player deals that cost teams the bucks and Arte Moreno is apparently not a fan of Scott Boras despite the money he spends on a prime suite for Angels home games.

Wieters caught 117 games in 2016 and neither Perez nor Maldanado have been more than part-time catchers, so the full season experience and that ol’ veteran grit could come in handy for the Angels if they choose to make him an offer.

Yay or nay? What say you fans?