The midnight non-tender deadline came to pass, and ― as expected ― the Tampa Bay Rays tendered contracts to their nine arbitration eligible players. The midnight non-tender deadline is for teams to decide whether or not to tender contracts to their arbitration-eligible players. The free agent market should expand to some degree on this day, albeit with relatively minor names. The team also acquired C Hank Conger from the Houston Astros for cash considerations.
The now 10 arbitration eligible players (with the addition of Conger) ― LHP Jake McGee, DH/1B/OF Logan Morrison, RHP Alex Cobb, LHP Drew Smyly, 2B Logan Forsythe, OF Desmond Jennings, RHP Erasmo Ramirez, C Rene Rivera, and OF Brandon Guyer ― will progress to arbitration, where they are projected to earn a combined $30.6-million. The projected per-player breakdown follows:
Jake McGee, $4.7-million
Logan Morrison $4.1M
Alex Cobb, $4M
Drew Smyly, $3.9M
Logan Forsythe, $3.3
Desmond Jennings, $3.1M
Erasmo Ramirez, $2.8M
Hank Conger, $1.8M
Rene Rivera, $1.6M
Brandon Guyer, $1.3M
Rivera represented the most contentious decision made by Matt Silverman, based on his poor performance in 2015. However, the team seems confident that he can improve…even though the projections for his upcoming season don’t support that assertion.
Rivera was linked with Texas Rangers, who were working on a trade for a catcher, although those rumors were never realized. As it stands, Rivera is expected to compete for playing time with Conger and Curt Casali in Spring Training or, though it’s also thought, the addition of Conger may offer some depth for additional moves during the off-season.
Word is the Rangers working on a trade for a catcher today that could affect tonight’s non-tenders
— TR Sullivan (@Sullivan_Ranger) December 2, 2015
Does not appear to be Rene Rivera. https://t.co/0VckI8S3nH
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) December 3, 2015
Not far behind Rivera was Desmond Jennings, the team’s often injured outfielder. Jennings is coming off an ugly season in which he played only 28 games primarily due to left knee issues that led to surgery. According to super-agent Scott Boras, Desmond is healthy and ready to go.
Your newest Ray, Hank Conger
As for Conger, the newest Ray was officially added to the 40-man roster Thursday afternoon, while OF Joey Butler was designated for assignment* to clear up roster space.
Conger, a switch-hitter, is coming off a relatively strong season with the Astros in which he slashed .229 BA/.311 OBP/.448 SLG/.759 OPS with a career high 11 home runs and 33 RBI over 229 plate appearances. The soon to be 28 year-old catcher did the majority of his damage from the left side of the plate, mashing right-handed pitching at an .279 BA/.353 OBP/.538 SLG/.891 OPS clip. However, he also slumped to a .175 BA/.250 OBP/.351 SLG/.601 OPS line from the right-hand side of the batters’ box.
Yet Conger had some issues behind the plate, which undoubtedly factored into the Astros’ decision to part ways with him. Conger gunned down just 1 of 43 would be base stealers in 2015, which he attributed primarily to bad mechanics. According to Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times), Conger told the Houston Chronicle that he felt he was rushing and getting “out of my element.” Previously, in parts of five major-league seasons, he threw out close to 23% — catching nearly one out of every four to five base-runners who attempted to run on him.
On the other hand, Conger has been graded as one of the better pitch-framers in the game. The hope is that the Rays can turn his throwing woes around, and utilize Conger behind the dish in a platoon capacity with Casali or Rivera. There is another school of thought that he could be used as a left handed DH option, much in the same way as John Jaso last season. However, that would be predicated upon a trade of someone like James Loney, for whom the team has both Logan Morrison and Richie Shaffer waiting in the wings as suitable replacements.
Whatever the case, if the team is able to turn his career around, Conger is cheap and under team control through the 2017 season. He currently has four years, 51 days of Major League service time.
*The team reportedly wants to keep Butler on a minor-league deal if he isn’t picked up by another team.
Note: this piece was updated at 3:22 pm on December 3, 2015.