News & Views: Wieters ready for debut; Dodgers-Gagne talk is nuts

News:Lord Wieters set for Friday debut

Views: Ask anyone in Baltimore and Matt Wieters is approximately 20 times better than Joe Mauer, Johnny Bench, Josh Gibson, Mike Piazza, and the Incredible Hulk combined. The fact is, the switch-hitting catcher is pretty close to can't-miss in the long run. His 2009 numbers weren't quite eye-popping in the relatively pitcher-friendly International League (.305 average, .890 OPS, .199 IsoP over 39 games), but he turned 23 last week and his bat was major league-ready coming into the season. It's reasonable to expect him to be a borderline top 10 catcher at worse, though his upside has him just a tier below the Mauer/Victor Martinez class.

Verdict: He should be long gone in every league, but if he's on your waiver wire, go get him.

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News: Mike Scioscia says Ervin Santana's elbow is fine

Views: And he's right. This is injury alarmism in its finest form. The artist formerly known as Johan essentially lost spring training and is coming off a major injury for the first time in his career. "Velocity down" is being thrown around, but there's nothing wrong with a guy in Santana's situation going from a 95 mph fastball to 92. Because of the injury, he's in early-April form right now. He'll be fine in a few weeks.

Verdict: Yes, Monday's shelling was tough to swallow, but Santana owners should sit tight. But if you don't have him, this is a perfect time to steal him away from any dolt who might be down on him.

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News: Hip surgery for Brett Myers?

Views: Obviously, terrible news for Myers owners. He really turned it on midseason last year, and he seemed to be rounding into form after a shaky April. He'll exhaust his options before going under the knife, but it looks like season-ending surgery is the most likely scenario. It would assure that J.A. Happ stays in the rotation for the foreseeable future (though despite his strong numbers, I'd rarely trust him in home games because of his flyball tendencies). It also moves the tremendously named lefty Antonio Bastardo a step closer to the bigs (though he has similar flyball issues), and could open a post-All-Star break spot for top prospect Carlos Carrasco if he turns it around at Lehigh Valley (0-6, 5.81 ERA, but strong 4.0 K-to-BB and 1.54 GB-to-FB ratios).