The Padres Should Have Pursued Carlos Corporan

With the flurry of moves the Astros have made of late, they had a glut of catchers. On their 40-man they had five catchers: Jason Castro, Carlos Corporan, Evan Gattis, Max Stassi and Hank Conger. Clearly someone had to go. When they added Colby Rasmus, they had to get rid of someone and they chose Corporan who was DFA’d. The Padres should have jumped at the chance to grab him, but he was traded to the Rangers earlier today.

The Padres only have two catchers on their 40-man roster in Derek Norris and Tim Federowicz. They don’t have a lot of left-handed hitting either.  Corporan is a switch-hitter, who had a .235/.302/.376 with six homers and 19 RBI in 190 plate appearances. Not exactly Ruthian.  

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Corporan per ZIPS projections is a .5 WAR. Norris is 2.6 and Federowicz is 2.1 because of their offensive ability. But I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk defense.

According to statcorner.com, Corporan was 5.9 RAA (runs above average). He saved almost six runs just on defensive ability. Norris was a -2.2. Norris lost his pitchers 16 calls. Corporan got his pitchers 42 extra strikes. There is something to be said for getting an extra pitch or extra strike behind the plate.

Corporan is due to make $975k, which is a lot for a backup catcher. It would have been more than the Padres would want to spend for his position, but Corporan’s defense behind the plate could help. Federowicz could do the job, but the Padres had an opportunity to add depth at a relatively low cost. It’s something the Padres should have taken a look at, but now Corporan will be in Arlington this season.