Way too much is being made of comments from Jerry Manuel that sounded like Omir Santos will be the starting catcher next season. I must have come across a dozen stories that ran with that notion today, but let’s not read too much into what Manuel is saying regarding the catching situation.
First, Manuel is the manager and for now Omir Santos is one of his catchers – what do you think he’s going to say?
Second, the last time I checked Jerry Manuel goes into the 2010 season as a lame duck manager and has no say on who the Mets will sign or what everyone’s roles will be next season. It’s hard enough for Manuel to keep up the pretense of Mets manager let alone general manager.
Omir Santos is one of my favorites, and he has done a capable job defensively and an average job offensively, but lets not make him out to be the next Johnny Bench. Santos is a fine backup catcher, but that’s where it ends.
The Mets will be in the market for an everyday catcher to replace Brian Schneider. One viable option may be San Francisco’s Bengie Molina.
Molina has always been very intriguing to me, and I believe he would provide the Mets some much needed offense in the middle of their lineup – and he probably won’t be too costly either.
I fear that my sabermetric friends would have a coronary if the Mets were to go anywhere near him despite the fact he has averaged .281 - 18 HR – 80 RBI in his last three seasons. They will argue that he has just 13 walks this season and has had only two 20-walk seasons in his eleven year career. But as I’ve said regarding Jeff Francoeur on the day we traded for him, sometimes you have to look beyond the boxscore and consider a players intangibles.
I’m willing to overlook his reluctance to take a walk because he has proven that can drive in runs and add some power to the lineup.
I believe that given the current market conditions, a two year $14 million dollar deal could be enough to land the feisty Molina brother in Flushing. He may even sign a one year deal with a vesting option which would make ownership a little less uptight about his age. Molina is 35 years old, but has shown no signs of slowing down.
We obviously could use his brand of intensity in the clubhouse, and the two-time Gold Glove winner would be a great tutor for Omir Santos, while Josh Thole spends 2010 refining his catching skills in AAA Buffalo.
Furthermore, Molina would be an asset to the pitchers, especially the starting rotation.
In my opinion, he would be an upgrade over Schneider offensively AND defensively, and most important of all, he knows how to play the game. By that I mean, he’s old school when it comes to fundamentals, and certainly Jose Reyes, David Wright and Daniel Murphy would all benefit with him on the team.
Oh and one more thing… He has caught two Cy Young winners in Bartolo Colon (2005) and Tim Lincecum (2008). That’s not something to sneeze at.
He has also has been to the post season three times and earned a World Series ring in 2002 when he was with the Angels. Mets fans may remember how he single handedly beat the Yankees in the 2005 ALDS when he battle .444 and hit three homeruns in the series.
We would still have a lot of work to do before next season, but getting Bengie Molina on board would be a heck of a nice start.
*Mets Merized Online Needs Your Help*
I’m going to agree with you on this one Joe. I really like Molina and he would add stability to this team. He calls a very good game and is a solid defender behind the plate. Molina has also shown to have decent power and is a good hitter.
I believe Thole will be a good catcher both offensively and defensively but i think hes a couple of years away. he needs to spend a yr or two in triple A. he has a lot to prove and i wouldnt mind having Murphy play a half a year or an entire year in triple A to see if he can really develop some power.
omir would be a good backup for molina but who knows how things will work out.
Santos=Scrub
That’s a good choice as far as catcher goes. He has a solid reputation with pitchers and he dont take shit from anyone. PLUS he frames pitches so well and with a wild rotation like the Mets, that may be a big plus. I couldnt give a damn about the walks, he’s a solid run producer and I’m pretty sure he’s batted cleanup for the Giants for a good part of the season. Getting Molina’s offense will also enable the mets to keep one of either Pagan or Murphy as an everyday player. Preferably Pagan.
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
OMF, PAGAN? REALLY? I’VE ALWAYS LIKED ANGEL, EVEN BEFORE WE DEALT HIM TO CUBS & WAS HAPPTY HE, LIKE ENDY, WAS REACQUITRED BY OMAR; BUT THIS YRS EXPOSURE HAS OVEREXPOSED HIM. AGAIN, LIKE ENDY, I SEE HIM BEST SUITED AS A TALENTED SWH #4 OUTFIELDER & LATE GAME PHer. MOLINA WOULD BE A GOOD GET & GREAT LINEUP LENGTHENER AS WELL AS A “CENTERING” PRESENCE SO DESPERATLY NEEDED BY LIKES OF MAINE,PELFREY,PEREZ.
He made 6 mil this year. How much of a pay cut do you think he’ll take? The Mets cannot spend 5 mil on a catcher.
Ideally I’d think Omar is looking for 1)a lefty/switch bat 2)good defense. Quantifying defense is difficult, and there isn’t that many lefty bats so I’ll just list them all with their 2009 salaries (according to Cot’s) and we can go from there:
B-Schni – 4.9 mil – is due for a serious pay cut
G. Zaun – 1.5 mil w/a 2 mil option or .5 mil buyout
J. Bard – ? release from BOS + minor league contract signed with WAS — < I have no idea what he actually made – still not much
J. Varitek – 5 mil w/ 5 mil team option or 3 mil player option
V-Mart's option will be picked up
Obviously they don't HAVE to go with a lefty/switch bat – but that is definitely a rout that may decide to take. I think Zaun or Schni are the most obvious lefty/good defense candidates and both should come for less than 3 mil.
I think this would be a great idea, Santos is a solid backup catcher and would benefit from Molina, and this would give Thole a few more years to develop before he comes up to the big leagues full time.
I always like Bengie, moreso than his brothers. But I think we’re all gonne be disappointed because Wilpon wants Minaya to hang himself so he can fire him next season. He’ll leave payroll as is and say sink or swim. And by as is I mean 125 mil.
I think Molina would be an excellent addition to the club. Besides being a capable (or better) defensive catcher, he can hit. He may not hit 18HR next year because of Citi, but I would expect at least 70RBI from Molina, which is a great fit in this lineup.
However, I would not give him more than two years (as you said) while he has not shown any signs of slowing down, it would be typical Mets luck that he would slow down once he came to Queens.
A lineup of:
1. Reyes
2. Castillo
3. Beltran
4. Wright
5. Abreu?
6. Francouer
7. Molina
8. Murphy
Would be one I would be comfortable with going into next season.
Molina is awful, look at his plate discipline stats!
I agree with fvsdf. Molina is the slowest player in baseball.The player they shold go after is Rod Barajas.He is a good catcher ,calls a good game,and has some pop in his bat.
I agree too. Get Molina at C, Carl Crawford in LF, and a good #2 starter and you could ALMOST entertain the thought of trying Murphy at 1B again.
Molina doesn’t fit on the Small Ball Mets. He will jam the basepaths in front of Reyes, Castillo, Pagan. Just imagine Pagan running at full tilt with Molina in front of him. Guaranteed to have 2 players on 1 base and some red faces.
You do know that Molina does the worst thing in the game more than just about anybody not named Yuniesky Betancourt? He makes outs. A lot. Sub 300 OBP is disgusting
Molina is too slow and his defense has suffered as he has put on weight. Imagine him being on base and not being able to go from 1st to 3rd all the time or clogging up base paths in front of the quicker players on this team. He is another one of those getting too old guys. With the beating that catchers take I don’t see him as a that much better improvement over the others out there on FA mkt. Please, even Schneider is faster than him on the bases.
Clogging up the bases is your main complaint about him? His career OBP is 307 and its below 300 this year and he is slugging a whopping 425. If we pay sign this guy for anything more than 1 million for 1 year (which isn’t happening) and then re-sign frenchie for anything more than 2 million a year I truly may give up on this team and go to the Rays due to the myopic vision our FO takes towards player evaluation and their ridiculous belief in small sample sizes equating to future success.
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
SARGE, WHILE MUCH OF WHAT U STATE IS PRETTY OBVIOUS TO THOSE OF US FAVORING BENGIE; HOWEVER, WITH THE TEAM LIKELY NOT RESIGNING SCHNEIDER, AND NEITHER SANTOS NOT THOLE EXPERIOENCED ENOUGH TO LEAD THE PROPENSITY OF OUR STAFF INTO THE STRIKEZONE CONSISTANTLY AS WELL AS REQUIRING ADDED OFFENSIVE POWER TO THE TUNE OF AT LEAST DOUBLE DIGIT HR. BENGIE IS PERCEIVED AS THE BEST KNOWN AVAILABLE WITH THE POTENTIAL F/A POOL CONSISTING OF:
Catchers
Rod Barajas TOR (B)
Josh Bard BOS
Henry Blanco SD
Ramon Castro CWS
Ramon Hernandez * CIN (B)
Jason Kendall MIL (B)
Jason LaRue STL
Victor Martinez * BOS (A)
Benji Molina SF (A)
Jose Molina NYY
Miguel Olivo * KC (B)
Mike Redmond MIN
Ivan Rodriguez TEX (B)
Brian Schneider NYM (B)
Yorvit Torrealba * COL
Jason Varitek * BOS (B)
Gregg Zaun * TB (B)
* – current contract includes 2010 option
(A) – projected as Type A free agent
(B) – projected as Type B free agent
SINCE THE ONE STANDOUT, VICTOR MARTINEZ, STILL HAS A CLUB OPTION FOR ‘10 & BOSTON IS MOST DEFINITLY LIKELY TO USE IT THE REAMAINING CLASS SEEMS A BIT SHY IN THE LEADERSHIP,HR POWER DEPT. TO SUIT OUR NEEDS.
No “short term fixes” please! Haven’t you and the Mets figured out that these things do NOT work!!??!?!?!?