A take on Matt Wieters, a look the World Series TV ratings

Will the Orioles make catcher Matt Wieters a qualifying offer for the second year in a row? Should they?

Wieters hit .243/.302/.409 last year with 17 homers, 66 RBIs and an OPS of .711. His batting average and OBP were his lowest since 2013 and his slugging percentage was his lowest since 2010.

On the other hand, the Orioles went 64-47 when Wieters was the catcher. Their .577 winning percentage in those games was better than their .549 win percentage for the season. The catcher ERA when Wieters was behind the plate was 3.98 compared to 4.28 with Caleb Joseph and 6.35 for Francisco Pena. The batting average against with Wieters back there was .250, better than the .258 season number.

Among catchers who played in at least half of the games in 2016 in the American League, Wieters ranked fourth in caught stealing percentage:

48.1 percent - Salvador Perez, Kansas City
45.0 percent - James McCann, Detroit
37.5 percent - Carlos Perez, Los Angeles
34.8 percent - Matt Wieters, Orioles

Of course, even if the Orioles make Wieters a qualifying offer of $17.2 million, he may not accept it. This may be Wieters' best chance to get a solid multi-year offer as a free agent at a time when the market is not strong for catchers.

Wieters will turn 31 in May. If he doesn't hit the market now and accepts another qualifying offer, what will the offers look like next year at this time when he will be going into his age-32 season?

The Orioles currently hold the 23rd pick in the June draft. Should they make qualifying offers that get turned down by Wieters and Mark Trumbo, they could emerge with three of the top 40 or so picks next year.

My guess is that the Orioles do make the qualifying offers to both Trumbo and Wieters, and that both players turn them down.

World Series TV ratings: World Series Game 5 at Wrigley Field between the Cubs and Indians produced what Fox called a massive 15.3 overnight television rating and 24 percent audience share. That number handily beat the 11.6 rating for the NFL's Sunday night Eagles-Cowboys game. It is the highest rating for a Major League Baseball contest since Game 7 of the 2011 World Series between Texas and St. Louis produced a mark of 16.3.

Game 5 showed a 31 percent increase over Game 5 of the 2015 World Series between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets and an 87 percent increase over Game 5 of the 2014 World Series between the Royals and Giants.

The local markets demonstrated dominant ratings strength as Cleveland led all markets with a 48.6 rating/66 share, the best baseball rating of any kind in that market since Game 7 of the 1997 Indians-Marlins World Series. Chicago posted a 42.8 rating/60 share, its best rating of any kind for a baseball telecast since Game 7 of the 2003 National League Championship Series.

World Series viewership:

Game 1: 19.4 million
Game 2: 17.4 million
Game 3: 19.4 million
Game 4: 16.7 million
Game 5: 24.1 million