Posted By Jeff Fletcher on March 27, 2009 7:13 pm

The Giants sent lefty Jack Taschner to the Phillies in exchange for catcher Ronny Paulino.

Looks like a no-brainer to me. The Giants were fed up with Taschner’s inability to throw strikes. Since Taschner is left-handed and throws 92 mph with some movement, there was another team willing to take a shot at him. Frankly, it’s a testament to Taschner’s open-market value that the Giants got a player as good as Paulino. Remember, the Giants were basically just trying to unload Taschner.

Paulino, 27, is a .278 hitter in 304 big league games over four seasons. He was the Pirates No. 1 catcher in 2006 and ’07. He’s a legit big league catcher who could hold down a spot for a few weeks or a month if Molina were to get hurt. That’s more than you can say for Steve Holm.