Bengie Molina trade analysis
Posted By Jeff Fletcher on June 30, 2010 9:14 pm
Well, Giants fans, you got your wish. Bengie Molina is no more. He was traded to the Rangers tonight, in exchange for reliever Chris Ray and a player to be named.
Is this a good deal for the Giants? I think it probably is, because Molina was really losing it, at the plate and behind it. (Shh, don’t tell the Rangers.) This allows Buster Posey to catch every day, or most every day, so at worst he’ll be getting good preparation to be the everyday catcher in 2011.
It reminds me a little of when the A’s traded Jason Kendall to put Kurt Suzuki behind the plate. That wasn’t an easy transition, though, so beware.
Kendall wasn’t hitting much, but the pitchers loved working with him. When Kendall was first gone, A’s pitchers grumbled about Suzuki. It was all temporary though. Suzuki learned and now he’s an excellent catcher. The same will happen with Posey, eventually. Don’t be surprised if the Giants pitching takes a little hit the rest of this year, though. You also shouldn’t be surprised if Eli Whiteside catches more than just once a week. It could be a 60-40 or 65-35 thing till Posey gets his feet wet.
Finally, don’t be surprised if Posey’s batting average keeps heading in the direction it was heading. It’s easy to forget, because people got so caught up in the struggles of Molina and Pablo Sandoval, but Posey has 7 hits in his last 48 at-bats, including three strikeouts on Wednesday. Now he’s got to get out of that slump while handling everyday catching. Yikes.
Perhaps the best part of the move is that it helps clear out first base, so the Giants can look for a hitter there. If they land someone like Prince Fielder or Lance Berkman (neither of which is terribly, likely, by the way), they can fit them in more easily without Posey in the first base mix.
As for Chris Ray, he’s just another one of those fungible bullpen arms that some years look great and some years look awful. I call it LaTroy Hawkins Syndrome. Think about Jeremy Affeldt and Bobby Howry. Anyway, I just got off the phone with a scout who saw Ray earlier this year, and he said he looked pretty good.
There is nothing I ever read or heard from a scout that I could not determine myself from watching or viewing a player in action.
Then you should be a scout.
Seriously, I often include scout comments because they have seen players that you and I haven’t. Whatever few times I’d actually seen Chris Ray pitch in my life, I’m sure I paid no attention to him.