When acknowledging assumptions as mistaken, Bob Murphy philosophized, “That’s why they put erasers on pencils.” You can use the same device to erase all the 6-4-3’s you’d already scratched into your scorebooks for all the double plays Bengie Molina was going to hit into as the Met catcher this season. Scratch ’em out — Molina’s staying a Giant for less money than the Mets were offering.
Gosh, what a shame.
I’m sure I was missing the upside of Bengie Molina the whole time he was deemed a done deal for this and possibly next season. I know he produced 20 home runs in 2009 and 95 RBI in 2008. I understand he’s renowned for his defensive prowess and that he caught a pretty good staff the last two years in San Francisco, including the reigning two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum. I know at the moment we’re improvising with an extra-large pillow strapped to a barrel instead of a catcher, but I’m not upset that Molina joins Yorvit Torrealba in a Never Met platoon at the backstop position.
I kept seeing the highlight package SNY kept showing in giving Molina updates and all I could think was, “This guy’s gonna kill one rally after another.” That’s a big assumption. It assumes the Mets were going to have rallies in progress, but I’m willing to go as far as to project a baserunner or two in 2010. What I couldn’t project was a 35-year-old (36 in July), plus-sized, righthanded hitting catcher slower than everybody on the field (and many in the stands) not grounding to shortstop with one on and one out. 6-4-3…6-4-3…I was already seeing it in my nightmares.
In a more optimistic would-be world, Bengie was going to whisper just the right calming advice to Mike Pelfrey, bark the perfect focusing command to Oliver Perez, figure out exactly how to keep Frankie Rodriguez from not giving up grand slams in ninth innings. We might miss all that. We might have to settle for the intermittently inspiring if mostly mediocre Omir Santos, wait impatiently for the development of young Josh Thole and spend more of a summer than we ever desired with Henry Blanco. Or maybe Chris Coste will earn his way onto the roster just so he can have a chance to chat with his beloved ex-Phillies teammates when they come to bat. Who will emerge as our regular starting catcher? Perhaps we’ll have to pretend to pay extra close attention to Spring Training to find out. Perhaps we won’t know for a while after that. Look at this way: Mike Piazza didn’t become our regular starting catcher until the 1998 season was almost a third over.
Now that’s looking at things with rose-colored glasses from behind a catcher’s mask. Until roster lightning strikes, however, the future’s so murky behind the plate, it’s gotta wear a chest protector.
I read somewhere that Tatis hit into more DPs despite fewer at-bats last season. So it’s not as if we aren’t used to rally-killers.
The dearth of MLB-capable catchers is amazing. I guess if you’re a good enough athlete, why would you pick the crummiest position to play?
Molina’s only Top 10 GIDP ranking was 2008, when he was sixth in the league with 23. He hit into 14 last year. Omir, in about forty fewer games, hit into nine. But even allowing for a conscious curbing of the “he’ll come to the Mets, he’ll suck more than ever” instinct, Molina was going to come to the Mets and suck even more.
None of this should be construed as an endorsement of Fernando Tatis.
Yes, another sign of progress would be Fernando Tatis attending 2010 Mets games by buying a ticket.
Hi Greg,
Should have figured – the delay in signing seemed similar to the delay in placing a Met on the D.L. – expected “day to day”.
I just think players have second thoughts signing with a mickey mouse organization that’s running a good team into the ground.
But at the same time, Citifield was built for speed and as you point out that’s a park not built for Bengie (actually it wasn’t built for Beltran, Wright or Delgado, either).
I wonder how many Mets Molina t-shirts will be shipped to Haiti over this. That’d make the non-deal even sweeter.
Or Piniero TShirts….