The Mets have a lot of holes to fill in 2010. They need an actual number 2 pitcher in the rotation; they need a set-up guy in the bullpen, a left fielder and a catcher. Last week I addressed the left field situation and a lot of you readers had a few opinions to say the least on my choices on who should play left field for us in 2010 but I still stand by my belief that Holliday would be the best solution for the Mets.
With Brian Schneider becoming a free agent next year we now need a catcher for the 2010 season. There are 26 catchers that are facing the prospect of free agency, 7 of which have team options and/or buyouts for their contracts. There are some good catchers that will be available next year but the Mets find themselves in a somewhat of a dilemma when it comes to acquiring a catcher this off-season, that dilemma is named Josh Thole.
Thole is 22 years old, he had his cup of coffee this year in the majors and he impressed me with his offense at the plate finishing with a .321 batting average in 53 plate appearances. He had a bit of 1-19 slump but he still showed promise in his major league debut. Even though he was slumping Thole didn’t look foolish at the plate like outfielder Fernando Martinez. Thole’s defense left a bit to be desired as he allowed 3 passed balls in only 17 games. On the plus side he did throw out 2 base runners out of 6 attempted steals on him. He also caught two really good games at the end of the season. Having said this Thole does not belong on the team yet. He needs to start 2010 in AAA Buffalo and work on his defense. He needs to also learn about the intangibles of being catcher, such as slowing down the pace of a game or going out to talk to a pitcher who is struggling. That is not a knock on Thole; those instincts will come in time. It’s important to remember that he was not originally a catcher; the Mets converted him to catcher in the minors. I believe that in 2011 Thole will be on this team as our starting catcher and there lies the dilemma: signing a veteran catcher to a 1 year deal and not completely overpay for said catcher for the one year he’ll be on the team.
There is one catcher that I would want and that catcher is Bengie Molina, who I think a lot of Met fans including myself would not mind seeing behind the dish for us in 2010. Molina in his eleven year career is a .276 hitter but more importantly he is one of the best catchers in baseball. Some could argue that out of his family he might be the best at calling a game and working with a pitching staff. If you take Santana out of the equation the Mets pitching staff is full of head cases with Mike Pelfrey, John Maine and Oliver Perez. Plus Jon Niese could be in the rotation, Niese is a young pitcher and Bengie works really well with the younger pitchers. He knows how to slow down a game if the pitcher is moving too fast and he’s also good at defense. He’s a gamer; he only knows one way of playing: playing hard! If there is one drawback it’s that he’s a Type A Free Agent, meaning that the Mets would lose a top draft pick as well as a supplemental draft pick. Ultimately if I’m the General Manager and I’m looking for an experienced catcher who plays good defense and works well with a young pitching staff, Molina is my guy.
The one catcher that I don’t even want to hear about this off season is Jason Varitek. I have nothing against him on a personal level, he seems like a good baseball guy, a good teammate but his career is coming to an end. His offensive numbers keep going down year by year and he is 38 years old. I also believe that he will not come cheap. A team will over pay him for his name and his past success with the Boston Red Sox. I believe that it may be time for Varitek to call it a career and I hope Omar or whoever is making these decisions now a days stays far away from Varitek.
Are there any other catchers I’m overlooking readers? Would Pudge Rodriguez who is a veteran catcher, a little older than Molina who will be a type B Free Agent be better?
*Mets Merized Online Needs Your Help*
No on Pudge. No on Varitek.
But I think I also have to say No to Molina, unless we trade Francoeur. I just don’t think it’s a good idea to have the two of them (likely batting close to each other if Manuel doesn’t use his name from a hat method of lineup setting) in the same lineup never walking.
There aren’t many better options at catcher than Molina. If he is the third ranked catcher in the NL, it doesnt say much for just about any other catcher out there. Plus Molina is clutch with guys on base, he less than any other current Met would clog the bases.
Love Benji, Varitek shouldn’t even be considered let alone talked about. Give up 2 top picks. No way. This is how we got into this mess to begin with. By now we should have had a rh hitting catcher ready to step in to platoon with thole for years to come when he is fully developed. I’m not saying that we would draft the right guys, put them in the right position or develop the properly but to just keep giving away our best picks year after year gives us no chance to ever have a complete team.
LOOKING AT OUR TEAM’S LEFTOVERS & HOLES; I DON’T BELIEVE BB/OBP IS THE MAJOR CONSIDERATION. BENGIE’S 20HR POTENTIAL WILL CERTAINLY COMPLIMENT WHOMEVER ELSE WE ADD. WHILE, I’M NOT A SABRE FAN, BB IS ONLY A CRUCIAL INGREDIENT FOR ME AT THE TOP OF ANY ORDER OR WHEN THERE’S POWER OR EVEN PITCHER BEHIND IT. I’D CERTAINLY NOT DISCOUNT THE NEED FOR A TAKE-CHARGE OFFENSIVE & DEFENSIVE CATCHING SOLUTION BASED ON BB. TO ME THAT’S KICKING MISS AMERICA OUT OF BED FOR FARTING.
I think Molina does not fit in well with the Mets Small Ball plans. He will jam up the basepaths and add to the base running problems we have seen too often. I say NO to him as well.
I’m not even sure what the best C plan is. I’ve heard suggestions that the Yankees are going to go with Cervelli next year instead of Molina, and Jose Molina might not be a bad backup for the Mets, but they’d still need to find a regular catcher. It’s not hard to find one that hits better than Schneider, but really they should do the proper research to find a guy that calls a good game or something. Someone that has the intelligence/mentoring ability to re-focus Perez (Warthen doesn’t, and never comes out at the right time. Manuel seems like he’d rather be pissy about having to pitch Perez than trying to guide him) It’s in ways like this that Pudge or Veritek would be valuable.
I do think Pelfrey Maine and Perez have potential, and if a catcher can improve them even slightly, I’d accept a .200 batting average.
Molina would be a great player to have on this team right now. he is a great game caller and he plays his position better than almost anyone. he has worked with guys like John Lackey and Tim Lincecum. He is a guy i would take any day of the week and he presence in the clubhouse would be a very good thing. as hes gotten older, hes only gotten better and giving him a one or two year deal with an option wouldnt be a bad move. thole could use at least another year and a half in the triple A. hes only 22.
stay away from varitek. hes just plain horrible and thats why the redsox went out to get Victor Martinez in the first place.
Yeah, Varitek is “horrible”. You people act like the Red Sox never won a damn game without Martinez behind the plate! He was there for a little over two months – who was back there before he got there? Varitek! You might want to check the stats and see the difference in the pitching when Varitek caught as opposed to Martinez.
A 38 year old catcher that has the WORST record of throwing out runners in all of MLB and hit .209 is JUST what this team needs, sure, good idea………why is it fans SCREAM when Omar signs on older player and yet in the same breath want a washed up catcher that is done, but a fork in him, its over………
First base? Isn’t that a hole?
Molina is the guy they need at C. Give hime a 2-yr deal. Let Thole catch a full year at AAA. Santos is the backup next year. Then in 2011 you can ease Thole into the starting role. Could even trade Molina prior to 2011 if a Thole/Santos combo looks good at that time.
I’m not sure a anything/Santos combo will ever look good.
Santos looks to be at least a decent backup C. So if Thole looks to be a starter, what’s the problem?
His defense is pathetic, he can’t hit, he can’t run..
Outside of a couple of big hits and maybe a hot week or two..he’s got no redeeming factors.
That’s what happens when you play a backup C every day. They look worse than they are in spot work. Maybe you’re right – I stopped watching toward end of August, but he seemed like an average backup C.
He’s a career minor leaguer that got a chance due to injuries, and Manuel not liking Castro. It’s likely that 2009 was his career year. If we were to get a guy like Molina, I guess it’d be okay, but I wouldn’t want a lesser guy where Manuel would overplay a platoon and use Santos a lot. Backup catcher isn’t overly important, but he just doesn’t feel like a good player.
The Mets finished among the 15 worst records in the majors. That means they cannot lose their first-round draft pick no matter which players they sign. And that is important because the Mets are looking at a top eight pick next June.
If the Mets sign a Type-A free agent then they would lose a second-round pick as long as the team losing the player offers the player arbitration. Players such as Bobby Abreu, Jason Bay, Matt Holliday and John Lackey are Type-A free agents.
But since they have one of those 15 worse records, the Mets would not lose any draft picks if they signed Type-B free agents. At this moment, Chone Figgins is teetering between the two classifications, but potential pitching targets such as Jon Garland and Joel Pineiro are clearly Type-Bs as are Adam LaRoche, Marlon Byrd and Rod Barajas. And it is possible that a team such as St. Louis might decide not to offer arbitration to a Type-A such as Mark De Rosa.
The main point, however, is that the Mets cannot lose that top 10 overall selection and if they decide to augment the roster with complementary players by going less expensive and accentuating depth they would not lose any draft picks.
good explanation. That makes me feel better.
I realize Molina has similar stats to Barajas.But Barajas is my pick.I also think Figgins and Derosa would be good pickups.
Reyes
Figgins(lf)
Wright
Beltran
Francour
Murphy/Derosa
Barajas
Castillo
It will also give us a strong bench with lots of flexibility.
Pagan,Santos,Ahern,Evans
STEVE, WERE U ASLEEP IN ‘05? BELTRAN IS VERY UNCOMFORTABLE #4 UNLESS U WANT YOUR CLEANUP GUY DROPPING DOWN BUNTS. HE’S BARELY CONFY IN #3, PREFERS #2. THE NYM’S BIGGEST HOLE IS CLEANUP HITTER & THERE’S ONLY 1 POTENTIALLY AVAILABLE SOLUTION OUT THERE…FIELDER!
UNLESS DELGADO IS DEEMED CAPABLE OF RETURNING TO FORM & BATSPEED.
NOT ONE OF THE LF OR C SOLUTIONS I’VE READ OR DREAMED ABOUT ARE CLEANUP TYPES. FOR GOOD OR BAD OMAR BEGAN DESIGNING THIS LINEUP IN ‘05 AROUND DELGADO @ #4, THUS THE ‘05 MEDIOCRITY & HOW MANY TIMES WE WERE AT BAT LATE NEEDING A #4 BOPPER.
I am SO happy to read the part of this article that reads “The one catcher that I don’t even want to hear about this off season is Jason Varitek”……..I don’t have an answer on who they should sign but I do know its NOT JV.
I think it’s funny how Mets fans are so down on Jason Varitek. Maybe if you’d had him helping your pitching staff….think about it: the Red Sox replaced him with a better hitting catcher…how far did that get them in the post-season? They got swept in the first round.
I think its funny that any fan would want their club to invest in an over the hill catcher, yes a catcher of all positions. He is 38 years old – which is VERY old for a catcher, he can’t hit, he is the worst defensive catcher in MLB – he’s done as a player, a coach someday somewhere, probably, but NOT A PLAYER…………..The Red Sox lost because they forgot to hit the ball…………
The worst defensive catcher? I hope you have some facts to back that claim up! He has one passed ball and three total errors the entire season!! If you are basing your claim solely on base stealers, you may want to blame the pitchers as well – especially Penny! The Sox do not hold runners on as a team. To say he is the worst defensive catcher is not only ridiculous but completely inaccurate!
Ok – he is the worst at throwing out runners, blame whomever you want. pitchers, 2nd baseman, the organist, the hotdog vendor – we do not need an over the hill catcher, I don’t care how good he called games, it would be a huge waste at this point. We need YOUNGER, BETTER players, not another. 209 hitter taking up a roster spot.
KAY, I TOTALLY AGREE VARITEK IS AKIN TO POISON IVY; BUT QUESTION YOUR REQUEST FOR YOUNGER, CONSIDER THE SERVICE REQUIREMENTS FOR F/ANCY I SUGGEST U PERUSE THE FOLLOWING LIST OF POTENTIAL F/A & CHOOSE YOUR PREFERRED TARGET:
Catchers
Rod Barajas TOR (B)
Josh Bard BOS
Michael Barrett TOR
Henry Blanco SD
Ramon Castro CWS
Ramon Hernandez * CIN (B)
Jason Kendall MIL (B)
Jason LaRue STL
Victor Martinez * BOS (A)
Chad Moeller BAL
Benji Molina SF (A)
Jose Molina NYY
Miguel Olivo * KC (B)
Mike Redmond MIN
Ivan Rodriguez TEX (B)
Brian Schneider NYM
Yorvit Torrealba * COL (B)
Jason Varitek * BOS (B)
Gregg Zaun * TB
WHILE, I’M CERTAIN U CHOSE ALL OF OUR NO.1 PICKS IN MARTINEZ, THE SMART MONEY SAYS HE NEVER GETS CLOSE TO THE MKT.
BTW, MY TOP CHOICE WOULD BE BENGIE MOLINA & HIS CAREER .260+ BA & 15+HR PROMISE TO USE HIS SAVY & YOUNG STUD PITCHER EXPERIENCE TO HONE OUR STAFF AS A COMPLIMENT TO WARTHEN, AS A BONUS, HE SPEAKS OLLIE’S LANGUAGE ELIMINATING TRANSLATIONAL DIFFICULTIES. PERHAPS MAKING OLLIE THIS YR’S CASTILLO IN EARNING HIS PAYCHECK.
Ew, Molina. Please no, not for more than $2-3 million and a 1 year deal.
JAMES, HER’S YOUR SHOPPING LIST WHO’S YR CHOICE?
POTENTIAL FREE AGENTS:
Catchers
Rod Barajas TOR (B)
Josh Bard BOS
Michael Barrett TOR
Henry Blanco SD
Ramon Castro CWS
Ramon Hernandez * CIN (B)
Jason Kendall MIL (B)
Jason LaRue STL
Victor Martinez * BOS (A)
Chad Moeller BAL
Benji Molina SF (A)
Jose Molina NYY
Miguel Olivo * KC (B)
Mike Redmond MIN
Ivan Rodriguez TEX (B)
Brian Schneider NYM
Yorvit Torrealba * COL (B)
Jason Varitek * BOS (B)
Gregg Zaun * TB
PLEASE DON’T PICK MARTINEZ SINCE I VALUE YOUR INTELLIGENCE ENOUGH TO FIGURE U KNOW HE’LL NEVER SEE THE MKT.