With slugging backstop Mike Napoli unceremoniously sent away in a trade, the heir apparent for Angels backstop seems to be young Hank Conger, a former first round draft pick who got a September cup of coffee. The inexplicable tendering of a contract in excess of a million dollars to the sub-Mendoza Jeff Mathisis jaw-dropping to the casual fan or every single fantasy team owner on earth, but longtime observers know that there is great love for Mysterious Mathis in the Angels clubhouse and were not too shocked.
The only thing now that stands in the way of the worst position player in major league baseball assuming a starting role for the Anaheim Nine would be a stellar spring by Bobby Wilson. Up to now he is probably most famous for a dramatic dustup at the plate with Mark Teixeira in a 2010 game in Anaheim against the Yankees in 2010. The big news on him coming into camp was that he dropped 33 pounds over the offseason. Remember when players were showing up to camp a decade ago having put on 33 pounds of muscle and four hat sizes in one offseason? How times have changed.
Conger is just 23 and has a higher offensive ceiling, but he has to play every day, and barring a drastic turning of the tides, he will be punching the clock in Salt Lake come April. Mathis has proven he cannot even bat his weight while glimmers of league average-ness have alighted Wilson at the plate in the past. For the sake of the Angels offense in 2011, here is to a leaner, meaner Wilson can justify benching or cutting the "Millionaire Mistake" behind the plate.