Should the Giants Offer Bengie Molina Arbitration?

Andrew Baggerly of the San Jose Mercury News reports that Bengie Molina wants the Giants to offer him a two0year contract for 2010 and 2011.  He’s enjoyed his time in San Francisco and wants to return.

Clearly, the Giants are unlikely to offer Molina a two-year contract given that they see Buster Posey as their catcher of the future, and Posey is hitting .319 with a .946 OPS in 26 games at AAA Fresno.

However, offering Molina arbitration after this season makes a lot of sense to me.  Even if Posey is ready to play at the major league level coming out of Spring Training next year, the Giants will need a second catcher.

That second catcher should not be Pablo Sandoval.  Sandoval has proven he can provide major league defense at 3B, and there is no good reason to move him back to catcher considering his offensive potential.  Over time, the accumulation of injuries from catching takes a toll on a catcher’s offensive numbers.

In Sandoval’s case, his body type (5′11″ and already 245 lbs at age 23) pre-disposes him to knee, back and ankle problems if he plays catcher regularly.  Given the offensive potential Sandoval has exhibited, his future should be at 3B and/or 1B.

Sandoval makes a good 3rd catcher, to be used in cases of emergency, and strictly limited to no more than 30 to 40 games a year at catcher.

Getting back to keeping Molina around, Posey’s defense at catcher is not getting rave reviews.  In fact, poor defense has been the one rumor suggesting that Posey is not ready for prime time despite what he’s done this year with the bat.  Molina is an excellent defensive catcher, who has a reputation for being generous with advice to young players, so if he sticks around for another year, he could help train Posey at the position.

Also, if Molina can get a multi-year deal somewhere else (and he probably can, since he can still hit) and he takes it, the Giants would get two draft picks for offering him arbitration.

A few years ago, the Giants had a string of incredibly poor first round draft picks.  After great success from about 1983 through 1988 when they drafted Robby Thompson, Will Clark, Matt Williams and Royce Clayt0n with first round picks, the Giants had a spell where every first round pick was a washout, either due to injury or lack of talent.

The Giants’ lack of success with draft picks had got to the point where Giants GM Brian Sabean publicly stated he didn’t care about losing late first round picks by signing Type-A free agents because the signing bonuses on these players was just wasted money.

However, starting in 20o2, when the Giants took Matt Cain with the 25th pick of that Draft, the Giants luck has turned considerably.  Of course, the Giants have also had better picks the last couple of years since they became a losing team starting in 2005.

However, given the crop of players the Giants have obtained in the first round of the draft since 2002, including Cain, Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson, I think that Sabean has probably seen the light on the value of top 50 draft picks.  Even if they don’t become stars for you, they have trade value, as we saw with the Tim Alderson for Freddie Sanchez trade in late July.

The only down side to offering Molina arbitration is that if he accepts, he will get a big one year contract from the Giants whether or not he actually goes to arbitration.  This is money the Giants would save if Molina left.  However, the Giants can afford a one year deal on Molina, and I think the reasons listed above would make it more prudent than not to offer Molina arbitration.

Finally, having two every-day catchers (assuming Posey makes the team out of Spring Training) is not necessarily a bad thing.  Given that Ryan Garko does not look like the hitter the Giants were hoping for, the Giants could play Posey at 1B on days when a left-handed pitcher is starting.  If Posey is really the hitter he looks like in his last year of college and this year in the minors, his future may ultimately be a first base, not catcher.