Bengie Molina's Defense

Opinions seem to be all over the map on the Giants’ decision to bring Bengie Molina back for 2010 on a $4.5 million.  I liked it, but many do not.  Here’s one particularly scathing blog post.

The post criticizes the Bengie signing for four reasons (1) Bengie’s terrible 2009 on-base percentage; (2) his slowness; (3) his defense; and (4) he’s standing in the way of prospect Buster Posey.

I can’t defend Bengie’s feeble .285 2009 OBP.  However, he does have a lot more power than any of the other available free agent catchers this offseason, except Miguel Olivo, whose on-base percentages are every bit as bad as Bengie’s.

And yes, he’s a slow old catcher.  However, there are always a lot of slow old catchers in baseball.

As for his defense, I decided a better take a closer look at that, because I have been going on the assumption that, while Bengie’s defense isn’t as good as it once was, it’s still slightly better than average.

One thing Bengie did not do well in 2009 was prevent the running game.  His 22.7% success rate in throwing out base-stealers was 12th out of the 14 major league catchers who “qualified” for purposes of ESPN’s on-line catching stats.  Only Jason Kendall (20%) and Jason Varitek (12.9%) were worse.  Also, only Varitek and A. J. Pierzynski allowed more stolen bases.

However, most of Bengie’s other defensive numbers were pretty good.  His pitchers’ 3.75 ERA when he caught was fourth best behind only Russell Martin (3.39), Yadier Molina (3.49) and Brian McCann (3.67).

In fairness, both caught stealing rates and catchers’ “ERAs” have more to do with the pitchers they are catching than the catchers themselves.  The 2009 Giants had great young pitchers who do not hold baserunners well.  Tim Lincecum, in particular, with his long motion, is one of the worst starters in baseball at holding runners on base.

Bengie was tied for the fourth fewest passed balls (4) and had the fourth best fielding percentage (.995) among the 14 qualifying catchers.  He had the best range factor, but the lowest zone rating among the 14 qualifiers.  His 8 doubleplays turned was tied for sixth best among all catchers in baseball (tied for 2nd among the qualifying 14).

Based on these numbers, Bengie may not have been better than average as a defensive catcher in 2009, but I’m not convinced he was a “bad” catcher either.

As for Bengie blocking Buster Posey, I’ve stated before that I think Posey would benefit from another two to four months at AAA Fresno.  Posey has only played 42 games above the A+ level in his professional career to date (35 games at AAA Fresno in which he hit great (.902 OPS) and seven late season games for the Giants in which he didn’t hit at all (.236 OPS)).

Posey was also one of the weakest hitters in the Arizona Fall League this off-season (.683 OPS in only 19 games played).  Posey’s supporters attribute his poor AFL numbers to exhaustion after playing his first full professional season.

Maybe.  However, if I were Brian Sabean, I would want Posey to go back to AAA long enough to prove that he’s ready to be a major league starter.  The fact that by doing so the Giants can potentially push Posey’s first arbitration back a year is only icing on the cake.

Right now, the evidence is not there that Posey is ready to step into the role as the Giants’ every-day catcher.  I think both the Giants and Posey will be better served by getting him another 40 to 100 AAA games.