Yankees should pursue other Molina

By Ted Mero on July 25th, 2008 1:19 PM
This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Baseball, Yankees Rumors & News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

While most Yankees fans are clamoring for a left fielder or another starting pitcher as the July 31 trade deadline looms, one overlooked position seems to be that of catcher. It appears Jorge Posada is lost for the season, and it could be that he is no longer able to play as an everyday backstop again.

In the meantime, Jose Molina has filled in as the regular catcher, with very mediocre results. While he is a decent defensive player, his .220 batting average, .260 on-base percentage and .300 slugging percentage are laughable.

You’ll take that out of a back-up catcher one game per week, maybe. Jose’s brother, Bengie Molina, on the other hand is a whole different story. Sure, the Giants catcher may be the slowest baseball player since Cecil Fielder, but beyond that, it’s hard to find something he doesn’t do well.

This guy is simply a pro’s pro. He defends well, rarely letting balls get by him, and he is second in the National League when it comes to throwing out would-be base stealers, having gunned down 34.5 percent this season. And while handling pitching staffs is sometimes an overrated quality, he is one of the best.

But fielding aside, Molina is always a threat at the plate with men on base. He certainly rivals Posada when it comes to catchers hitting in the clutch, and he’s been doing so ever since his Angels days, when he actually protected Vladimir Guerrero for a time.

On a young San Francisco Giants team, Bengie is the unquestioned leader. On the Yankees, he would be a welcome veteran who could add some pop to the lineup and provide a reliable presence behind the plate. And being that he’s under contract through 2009, he might make Posada’s possible transition to 1B/DH a little smoother.

The only question is: Do the Giants let him go? While San Francisco drafted Florida State phenom Buster Posey with the fifth pick in this year’s amateur draft, the young catcher is likely a couple years away from The Show.

GM Brian Sabean won’t let him go for nothing. New York will need to dangle a couple of solid prospects, certainly making a better offer than what the Giants got from the Brewers for the pinch-hitter deluxe Ray Durham.

So let the Molina brothers unite in The Bronx. It could make for a joyous reunion.

There is currently one response to “Yankees should pursue other Molina”

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  1. 1 On July 25th, 2008, Rob Abruzzese said:

    I agree, but Jose isn’t just decent defensively. I doubt there are more than 3 catchers in baseball that are better than him defensively. He’s certainly thrown out the most runners in the mlb.

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