Giants bring Bengie Molina back for one more year

Posted on January 19, 2010

Bengie Molina #1 of the San Francisco Giants bats against the Cincinnati Reds during the game at AT&T Park on August 8, 2009 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

It appears the San Francisco Giants have finally spent all their money this winter as they signed former catcher Bengie Molina to a one-year deal worth $4.5 million this afternoon. Molina spent the past three seasons in the orange and black and was seeking a multi-year deal as a free agent this off season, but after talks with the Mets broke down there were not many options available for him. I think this is a good deal for the Giants as Molina will offer a safe one year bridge to young Buster Posey in 2011.

The 35-year-old Molina had a nice year for the Giants in 2009 when he hit a career-high .265 with 20 homers and 80 RBIs. Towards the end of the season Bengie became kinda bitter when the Giants brought rookie phenom Posey up from the minors in September. Molina wanted a big multi-year deal this winter and he knew there was no way the Giants were going to offer him one. He pouted a lot as he knew he was gone. He felt unappreciated. He was the Giants clean up hitter and did everything they asked of him. It was not his fault that there was not a better hitter on the roster.

I always enjoyed photographing Molina. Heck- I love shooting all catchers because they make such great pictures. There is nothing like getting a clean shot of a catcher ripping his mask off as he chases a bunt. It is also fun getting a good frame of a catcher tagging out a runner at home plate. However- by the end of this coming season I will be ready to shoot Posey every day!

When news of this deal broke this afternoon from KPIX Channel 5 in San Francisco it was a huge shock. Giants General Manager Brian Sabean said at the winter meetings, regarding Molina, that this ship “had sailed.” Molina will be taking a $1.5 million pay cut from last season, but this is how things are these days in the changing economics of baseball where the big stars make the big money, and everyone else is fighting for the scraps that result in one-year deals.

When the Giants selected Posey with their number one pick in June of 2008 the organization hoped that the young catcher would be ready to take over the starting catching duties on Opening Day in 2010 when Molina’s contract was over. This deal means that will not happen. Posey did not get much playing time in San Francisco after he was called up in September of 2009 and then played in the Arizona Fall League where fatigue hampered his play as he only hit .225 with 2 homers and 12 RBI’s in 19 games.

Last month Sabean told reporters in a conference call that Posey “isn’t ready to catch 100-plus games in the big leagues.” He also said this: “After his first full season, he was pretty whipped. Some of it is just by nature; He hasn’t played enough professionally. And in some ways, it’s easier to play rather than do what he did. He was in big leagues as an emergency situation, a third catcher, and he caught all the bullpens. He also did that in the Fall League because he was playing three times a week. It was pretty obvious to us the rigors took its toll, which is not uncommon. By comparison to others, he’s caught very little, including guys who become full-time catchers. It might be a tall order to ask him to do this. We’d like to get somebody, if we make the decision not to let (Posey) start the season, to be more full-time. And Buster’s in position he would earn it or convinced us (that promoting him) is in the best interest of everybody. We’ve got a short list of what we think of as viable options (as free-agent catchers), but we’re not engaged to point it’ll happen fast.”

It did not take someone from the lunatic fringe to figure out that Sabean was determined to find a veteran catcher and sign him to a one0year deal to ask as a stop gap for this season. However, as the calendar moved into mid-January it was looking like there were not any catchers left. Maybe Posey would have to be the starter in 2010. This signing of Molina is a very safe move that gives manager Bruce Bochy what he has always wanted- a veteran signal caller behind the plate who can call a good game and handle the pitching staff. It is obvious that Bochy did not feel like Posey was ready to handle a big league pitching staff full-time. Yet.

Hopefully Bengie won’t mope around in 2010 and complain about his crappy one-year contract. In today’s baseball landscape he was lucky to have the Giants safety net to fall back on. He could have ended up catching in Washington for the Nationals or signed a big deal with the Mets- where he would have been eaten alive by the press back there once they saw him try to leg out a ground ball into the hole at shortstop.

Since the Giants have improved their lineup this off season Molina will not be hitting clean up in 2010- which is a GOOD thing. Here is their projected lineup for opening day in April:

1. CF Aaron Rowand

2. 2B Freddy Sanchez

3. 3B Pablo Sandoval

4. 1B Aubrey Huff

5. LF Mark DeRosa

6. C Bengie Molina

7. RF Nate Schierholtz?

8. SS Edgar Renteria

This lineup will not scare many opposing pitchers, but combined with their great starting pitching staff it should allow the Giants to hang around a little big in the NL West well into the summer.