Cutting it Close

Talk about brinkmanship...

Matt Wieters was prepared to sign a contract Wednesday night that would make him part of the Orioles' future, the franchise catcher that has eluded them. He also was prepared to return to Georgia Tech for his senior year and re-enter the draft in 2008.

With less than an hour left before the midnight deadline to sign Wieters, the Orioles and Boras were nearly $6 million apart, according to baseball sources. Andy MacPhail, president of baseball operations, said an agreement was reached at 11:51 p.m.

I mean, I'm ecstatic that the Orioles finally got the deal done. Because the best way to start off the MacPhail Era in Baltimore would not have been to allow our 1st round pick in the draft to go back to school over a financial issue. But good grief, could they have possibly waited any longer to get this done?