Nationals, Wieters finalize deal

The Washington Nationals finalized a one-year deal with veteran catcher Matt Wieters on Friday that includes a player option for 2018, the team announced.

Wieters, who arrived at his new club's West Palm Beach spring training complex Thursday, will earn $10.5 million in 2017, sources told Jorge Castillo and Chelsea Janes from the Washington Post, and can make $21 million over the life of deal if he exercises his option. To accommodate Wieters on the 40-man roster, the Nationals placed first baseman Jose Marmolejos on the 60-day disabled list.

"I always thought it was a good fit for me," Wieters told reporters, according to MASN's Mark Zuckerman, after his deal was announced.

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Selected by the Orioles fifth overall in the 2007 draft, Wieters spent the first eight years of his career in Baltimore, less than an hour's drive from Nationals Park. An All-Star four times with the Orioles, Wieters never developed into the offensive star many scouts expected him to be, but the 30-year-old remains one of the game's better catchers, and rebounded nicely in 2016 after Tommy John surgery limited him to 101 games over the previous two seasons.

"I always wanted to play for the same team my whole career, but eight good years is eight good years," Wieters said.

This past summer, after accept the Orioles' qualifying offer, Wieters managed 1.7 WAR in 124 games, hitting .243/.302/.409 (88 wRC+) with 17 homers and 17 doubles while throwing out 35 percent of potential base-stealers.

"I know he came in kind of with a bang, and he was one of the best catchers around," Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. "Then he got injured, and then he's been trying to regroup and regather himself since that point in time. It looked like last year when we played him, he was an offensive force. It gives us another big bat in the lineup."