02/07: Bengie Molina to the 'Jays
Posted by: James
The Blue Jays signed another free-agent yesterday, namely Bengie Molina, to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2007. The 31-year-old will earn $4.5 million in 2006, and the option year is worth $7.5 million. Not a horrible deal but I'm sure that Bengie is kicking himself for not taking the 3 year, $18 million that the Mets offered him at the beginning of the season. I don't know how much return that the Blue Jays will get on this investment as the most likely scenario (in my mind) is Bengie putting up a line like this, .279 /.325/.435 with 10 HRs or so. Considering that Gregg Zaun, who is still with the team, gave them .251/.355/ .373 with 11 HRs last year, this seems like a marginal upgrade. Yes, I realize that Bengie was once a very good defensive player but that was 2 full seasons ago and Bengie has added some weight since then.
This comes on the heels of Piazza (who would have made a ton more sense for the Blue Jays) signing with the Padres with a $2 million, one-year contract (with a mutual option for 2007 at $8 million).
Man, if you were to cut that catching number down a little bit, that sounds like it would have been an awesome fit for the Blue Jays (and for Piazza as well since San Diego's PETCo Park will rob him of his main weapon, his power). If you cut that catching number down even further, he would have been a really good fit for the Yanks.
It just wasn't meant to be as earlier signings, specificially the Bernie contract, precluded any pursuit of Piazza. It wasn't the Stinnet signing that didn't allow the Yankees to be more of a factor in the Piazza talks. You could have released or traded Stinnett for a bag of balls and the contract hit wouldn't have phased the Yankees a bit. However, with Bernie in the fold, you have effectively filled "the aging player who can DH" role. If you were to take Bernie out of the equation, Piazza then becomes the perfect fit - a backup catcher with pop who could also be one heck of a right-handed DH and play a little (admittedly bad) first base if necessary. Then at the end of the season, you have a rested Posada and Piazza ready for the playoffs (and if you release Stinnett, another roster spot). Oh well - c'est la vie.
This comes on the heels of Piazza (who would have made a ton more sense for the Blue Jays) signing with the Padres with a $2 million, one-year contract (with a mutual option for 2007 at $8 million).
Piazza is hoping to catch about 90-100 games this season, along with playing some first base and being the DH in interleague games.
Man, if you were to cut that catching number down a little bit, that sounds like it would have been an awesome fit for the Blue Jays (and for Piazza as well since San Diego's PETCo Park will rob him of his main weapon, his power). If you cut that catching number down even further, he would have been a really good fit for the Yanks.
It just wasn't meant to be as earlier signings, specificially the Bernie contract, precluded any pursuit of Piazza. It wasn't the Stinnet signing that didn't allow the Yankees to be more of a factor in the Piazza talks. You could have released or traded Stinnett for a bag of balls and the contract hit wouldn't have phased the Yankees a bit. However, with Bernie in the fold, you have effectively filled "the aging player who can DH" role. If you were to take Bernie out of the equation, Piazza then becomes the perfect fit - a backup catcher with pop who could also be one heck of a right-handed DH and play a little (admittedly bad) first base if necessary. Then at the end of the season, you have a rested Posada and Piazza ready for the playoffs (and if you release Stinnett, another roster spot). Oh well - c'est la vie.
Mike A. wrote:
http://sports.espn.go.com/e...
It's looking like things could get real interesting come October if it's a 3 horse race.