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SoMnFan -> RE: MLB General Information PT 4 (12/4/2015 11:09:53 AM)
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On Wednesday night, the Houston Astros traded backup catcher Hank Conger to the Tampa Bay Rays for cash considerations, just minutes before the midnight deadline to tender 2016 contracts to arbitration-eligible players. The glass-half-empty take on the trade is that the Astros, who gave up two MLB–ready players to acquire Conger from the Angels last offseason, decided he wasn’t worth the $1.8 million he’s projected to earn in 2016, which is less than half of last season’s average major league salary. The positive spin is that the Rays, who aren’t known for their cash flow, decided he was worth that sum, plus the convenience fee they sent to the Astros. And that’s curious, considering that Conger’s 2015 season made him, by one measure, the most incompetent catcher of all time:
YEAR
CATCHER
STEAL ATTEMPTS
CAUGHT
2015 Hank Conger 43 2.3%
1999 Brian Banks 28 3.6
2012 Rod Barajas 99 6.1
1970 Bill Sudakis 32 6.3
1983 Luis Pujols 46 6.5
1959 Clint Courtney 30 6.7
1990 John Russell 28 7.1
2009 Chad Moeller 27 7.4
2010 Mike Redmond 27 7.4
2010 Craig Tatum 27 7.4
By all accounts, the 27-year-old Conger is a good guy: He just won an award that says so. Conger is well-liked in the clubhouse, politically conscious and a master of memes. He’s also really, really bad at throwing the baseball. Conger’s 2015 caught-stealing percentage sits atop a deeply undistinguished list of catchers who couldn’t control the running game. Forty-three runners tried to steal a base with Conger behind home plate. Forty-two succeeded, including 11 from the division-rival Rangers.
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