Matt Wieters to reportedly exercise player option, remain with Nationals
Wieters is coming off the worst season of his career
•
1 min read
One player who won't be among the free agents this offseason is Washington Nationals backstop Matt Wieters, who will reportedly remain in D.C. and exercise his player option worth $10.5 million:
Source: Matt Wieters intends to exercise his $10.5 million player option for 2018, remain with Nationals.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) November 3, 2017
Wieters, 31, signed with the Nationals after an uncharacteristically poor 2016. He looked like a decent bounce-back candidate, as his 89 OPS+ was the worst of his career. That turned out to be optimistic, however, as Wieters hit .225/.288/.344 in 2017 -- marks that resulted in a new career-low 63 OPS+. Factor in below-average defense, and he was a minus overall.
Wieters' decision to execute his option is a no-brainer, then, since he wouldn't have found a better payday on the open market.
As for the Nationals, they seem likely to add another backstop this winter, both to challenge Wieters, and to replace incumbent backup Jose Lobaton, who is a free agent.
