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Matt Wieters has (almost) arrived, and the Baltimore Sun's Peter Schmuck says everything is about to change ...

Truly, this is a watershed moment in Orioles history. The club is in the midst of a great transition, and Wieters - though not the first to arrive - has become the symbol of this new generation of Orioles talent.

Maybe that designation should have gone to center fielder Adam Jones, who is already here and appears to be headed for superstardom, but Wieters was the cornerstone of the club's long-term future before the big trade that brought Jones to town. The Orioles also have two other established team leaders in Nick Markakis and Brian Roberts, but they were here before this current rebuilding program was put in place.

The organization has turned in a new direction, so the newest faces have taken on added importance. Just look at the reaction after rookie left fielder Nolan Reimold completed Wednesday's dramatic comeback with a three-run homer in the 11th inning. Look at the excitement that already has been generated by the arrival of young pitchers Brad Bergesen, Jason Berken and David Hernandez, even though - quite frankly - they aren't considered the cream of the minor league pitching crop.

Orioles fans have been clamoring for this changeover, and Wieters is the guy who makes it official. There are other highly regarded prospects to come, but he's the guy who already has changed the subject in Baltimore.

It's actually sort of scary, how good the American League East might be in 2010 and '11. We know the Orioles are going to score plenty of runs. Right now -- with Reimold replacing Felix Pie in left field and Wieters replacing Gregg Zaun behind the plate -- the O's are a pretty good offensive club. They do need to find a shortstop and a third baseman, but (as I've mentioned a few times recently) every team has a hole or three in the lineup.

Obviously, pitching remains a huge issue. Those three young pitchers Schmuck mentions? In 50 innings -- most of those Bergesen's -- they've struck out 24 batters, and walked 19. Granted, 50 innings is nothing. But the only reason to get excited about those guys is that they're not Adam Eaton or Mark Hendrickson. Anyway, Schmuck is right; those guys aren't the cream of the crop. Unfortunately, the cream of the crop is mostly still a year or two away from pitching for the big club, let alone pitching well for the big club. So perhaps 2010 is a bit optimistic. Instead let's target 2011 as the year in which the American League East might look like the best division we've ever seen.