Yanks Face Catching Woes

Add Kenji Johjima to that list. Seattle would trade him (and his lousy game calling) since his contract is expiring. At least they should.

If the yankees were willing to pick up some of the salary, Kei Igawa for Brayan Pena would serve both teams well. Braves need pitching and Igawa might be better served in the National.

Trading Igawa by spinning his potential for breakout in pitcher-friendly NL parks seems like a very good idea. The Yanks have been so good lately about flipping their flops, that you might think they've been doing a lot of vacationing lately in Cancun or San Diego. Cashman needs to throw on a Hawaiian shirt, step into some Tivas and make some phone calls. San Diego has a deep crop of quality catchers. TEX plans to keep Salty and Laird is strictly being put on display for the market. Igawa flopped hard in '07 but his command is showing new life in AAA, so he does have some trade value. I don't know about B.Pena though.

Also, Posada might not be back to form for a while, according to Fantasy Sports PT at the Disabled List Informer...

http://disabledlist.blogspot.com/2008/04/posada-is-fine-right.html

This is exactly the situation the Yanks signed Chad Moeller for, so I look for him to come up. All the other catchers in their system are too inexperienced. Given the injury to Barrett, not sure the Padres would be willing to give up Morton or Hundley - though I would love to see either one of them get a good shot in the Majors. Luke Carlin doesn't seem to have the numbers, so I would think the Yanks would stick it out with Moeller - who has the experience - or go for a trade with a different club. Maybe Oakland would give up Bowen or go get Matt LeCroy who recently signed with an indy team (Lancaster Barnstormers).

Maybe the Yanks should call Javy Lopez!!

With the Reds getting eaten alive, YET AGAIN, by Left Handed Pitching, Bengie Molina makes sense.

However, I fully expect them to dawdle around and continue to think their line-up is good enough to win the weak Central Division (even though it hasn't been the last seven years) while the Yankees or some other team swoops in and gets Molina for little or nothing.

The Ginats are going nowhere this year and they DON'T want to give up their Pitching to fill holes. So, losing a 33 year-old Catcher who makes $6 million dollars really wouldn't be that big of a deal if other holes are filled.

That is why I say the Reds should trade Alex Gonzalez and Javy Valentin to the Giants for Molina. Combined, A Gon adn Valentin make $50,000 dollars less than Molina. Valentin can fill in at Catcher and provide some pop while A Gon (when he gets back from his injury) can play SS.

A Gon is 10 years younger than Omar Vizquel and has more pop than Vizquel.

So, with this trade, the Giants fill their Catcher spot and their SS while paying virtually the same amount of money AND they can then trade Vizquel to a contending team who needs a veteran who can also play good Defense.

As someone said they have Moeller for a short period.

The Yankees are NOT going to trade for any catcher unless Posada or Molina is out for a really extended amount of time and this means more than a 15 day DL trip.

"I don't know if the Giants can trade Bengie."

While I think that Molina would be a great fit for either the Yankees, orthe Reds, I gotta agree with what zito4cy said. I think that at this point, unless the Giants got blown away by an offer, they just can't move Molina. He's been their most effective hitter, pretty much their only effective hitter, and probably has the most power on the team. Plus, with a young pitching staff it'll help guys like Lincecum, Cain and Sanchez to have a seasoned veteran behind the plate. At this point, losing Molina would be a serious detriment to an already godawful team.

Now, if the Yankees offered a stunning package, obviously the Giants would have to consider. I could see an offer like Jeff Marquez, Alberto Gonzalez and Juan Miranda getting it done. Or maybe even straight up for Jesus Montero.

The Reds would be far more capable of satisfying the Giants' need for a bat. They could offer any one of Todd Frazier, Drew Stubbs, Juan Francisco, Devin Mesoraco or Chris Valaika. If Cincy offered Stubbs or Frazier then I think that the Giants would have to do that.

"Cincinnati should ship Bailey for Saltalamacchia. Even if one side or the other thinks his guy is a little better, they could make that deal with just a little tweak."

This deal makes logical sense, but I doubt it'd ever get done. Salty could man catcher for the Reds for the next decade, and solve an issue the organization has been trying to fix for years. Bailey would give the Rangers a potential ace, something they could really use, and his stuff is nasty enough he could succeed in Texas if he harnessed it.

But the Rangers have ZERO plans to move Salty, and I'm sure Cincinnati is still dreaming about a Cueto-Volquez-Bailey rotation. I could see the Reds moving Bailey because of his spring, but he's been incredible so far in the minors this year, so I doubt they're gonna give up on him this quickly.