The Angels have interest in free agent catcher Dioner Navarro, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). Chris Iannetta figures to get most of the playing time behind the plate in Anaheim, with former Angels catcher Jeff Mathis on the Blue Jays' roster.
Navarro, 27, signed a one-year, $1MM deal with the Dodgers a year ago. He posted a .193/.276/.324 line in 202 plate appearances for the Dodgers this past season, preventing 14 of 55 stolen base attempts against him. He hasn't posted an OPS over .600 since making the All-Star team as a member of the 2008 Rays.
The Angels' interest in Navarro indicates the team is open to options other than Hank Conger and Bobby Wilson. Both backstops appeared in 50-plus games in 2011, though the offense Conger provided as a minor leaguer has yet to translate to the Major Leagues.
This should come as no surprise. Scioscia needs his below the medoza line hitting catching slot filled now that he no longer has Mathis.
This is sad. Real sad. Unfortunately, also true.
Angels should save their money, Bobby Wilson is a career .206 hitter, that should be close enough.
Seriously i was happy with what Jerry has done, and then he mentions this.. waste of $$$..What happen to “OBP” JERRY!
Can’t miss prospect.
please….NO
I’m so glad he is no longer a Ray.
276 OBP despite only batting 193? Interesting. I’d say he is a few lucky BABIP bounces away from being a decent backup…but he consistently posts 200ish BABIPS throughout his career….how does that even happen?
It happens because he’s barely speedier than Benji Molina on the basepaths and he has very little punch in his bat. I’m not surprised the BABIPs are as low as they are.
Jesus. Give King Conger a shot.
Angels already have a veteran starting catcher. Conger could be dealt for bullpen depth.
Yes… already have a VETERAN starting catcher. We need youth. Conger has limited starts in one season and people want to deal him for freaking bullpen depth of all things. He still has major potential and is insanely young.
Ianetta is not our catcher of the future, and Conger isn’t going anywhere.
The Angels have too much youth.
Where do you think 86-76 came from? Not just losing Morales…
It was having an overexcited rookie at closer; it was having another over aggressive rookie at 1B; it was (as much as I hate to criticize him) a second year player in CF who needs to cut way down on the K’s, and needs to be more confident in stealing a base; and it was having a rookie as a back up C who couldn’t spell the disaster that was Jeff Mathis.
But the difference between Walden, Trumbo, Bourjos, and Conger is that those other 3 players began to prove themselves right away. Conger didn’t. He was sent back down.
The Angels made a lot of mistakes in the past by trading away most of their youth to win now. They reversed that in the past 20 years, but in the past 5 years have been holding on to some of their youth for way too long. That is where Dipito comes in.
The Angels have a starting catcher. And if he doesn’t work out, they will have enough money to throw around to get another catcher.
The Angels have a greater need in the bullpen, and if they need to sign Navarro and deal Conger for bullpen depth, then that’s what they should do.
Or, maybe Navarro just goes to AAA, and they deal Wilson.
With Hunter, Wells and Abreu soaking up so much money and air it’s odd that you point to being too young as the issue.
That’s insane..I prefer trading Izzy for bullpen depth..NOT Conger..THIS GUY IS LIKE MATHIS! NO TY JERRY!
ok – White Sox – Thorton and AJ for Trout and Conger
If Trout comes up… then its an automatic no
AMEN
I’d like to see Mike squatting behind the plate, but he probably couldn’t get back up. Then again, neither can Navarro.
how can conger or bobby be worse than navarro?? save the money and look to the bullpen or another bat!!
That’s the point. Conger is a future starting catcher. Navarro is a decent back up. The Angels are probably looking to package both Conger and Wilson in deals to get bullpen depth, and maybe lefty bat.
If Navarro is a “decent back up”, then so am I.
Because all back ups are supposed to hit .250/.330. If that were the case they wouldn’t be back ups. Back up catchers are brought in mostly for defensive purposes.
Hes terrible behind the plate, have fun
Navarro is no worse than most other back ups, in fact his career averages are better than Jose Molina. But he took a bit of a nose dive the last 3 years after posting .263/.327 his first 5 years. But even Molina had his bad years. I think what may interest the Angels is that Navarro does have a good SB % and can actually pick runners off. Ianetta will get most of the playing time. I’m thinking Conger and Wilson could be on their way for bullpen depth.
Why even get rid of Reagins if you’re going to make moves like that? I’m sure he was fully capable of being inept enough to trade a 23 year old catcher who pulled an .827 OPS in the minors for bullpen depth of all things.
Seriously, Bill Smith, is that you?
Welcome to 90% of Angel fans.
It’s the same distorted logic people are spewing about trading Morales right now.
Umm 90% of Angels fans don’t think Morales should be traded.
And you need to re evaluate the logic because many people on this thread are talking like a back up should hit just as good as the starter… then they wouldn’t be back ups would they?
The person you responded to only talked about Conger’s offense… in the MINORS! He didn’t say one word about Conger’s terrible defense.
Plus, it never took Salmon, GA, Edmonds, Erstad, or Bengie Molina as long as it’s taken Conger to prove himself. And funny how the one player who took too long in that whole bunch (JT Snow) was the one who was traded sooner than later.
Conger is facing the same thing, especially on a team that just signed the best pitcher on the market to add to an elite rotation, and also signed the best player in the game, and skyrocketted their to just under $180 million, and is expecting to get back into the playoffs and get back to the long term success they had from 2002-2009.
The Angels have been relying on their youth too much.
Plus, if they trade Conger and don’t extend Ianetta, the Angels have the money to just sign another catcher.
Or, they could just trade Bobby Wilson and keep Conger, and just have Navarro replace Wilson at AAA and/or as the third catcher.
Conger’s upside is tremendous, bringing in Iannetta with his short term contract will allow Hank to split another year between AAA and Anaheim as Wilson has to stay with the big team or be placed on waivers… I think this Navarro talk is just talk- hopefully it is just talk. I don’t see any advantages here
i thought dipoto was a good gm….
This only makes sense if the Angels are cutting Bobby Wilson loose or trading him for a minor league prospect with the intent of letting Conger play everyday in AAA. Navarro I guess would be as good of a back up option to Iannetta as Wilson(I haven’t seen him play everyday so I may be wrong)… Next year though they should decline their team option on Iannetta and bring Conger to Anaheim.. Remember this is just a rumor and yes Dipoto has been able to apply Arte’s money very well so far.
He is almost bad enough to negate the signing of Pujols. Their combined WAR will be somewhere around 0.
I smell a “package deal” including Wilson to go out and get a left handed bat or power hitting 3rd baseman.
Bobby Wilson has zero value, who else is going?
We got someone with a heartbeat for Mathis… haha
Interest in him is ODD to say the least…I’m going to take this for what it is….rumor of interest…no need to spend any time speculating on the what if’s of this “story”
Am I the first to call this BS? Its Jon Heyman reporting on a slow news day.