The Blue Jays signed Jose Molina to a one-year deal that includes a club option for 2011, according to MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. Molina is guaranteed $400K and he makes $400K more if he is on the team's opening day roster. The 2011 club option is worth $1.2MM. The Blue Jays are putting Jesse Litsch on the 60-day DL to make room for Molina.
Molina made $2MM with the Yankees last year, hitting .217/.292/.268 in 155 plate appearances. The 34-year-old has a passable .690 career OPS against lefties, but free agent acquisition John Buck also does better against southpaws (.749 OPS against left-handers, .687 OPS against right-handers).
The move gives the Blue Jays depth to go along with Buck and Raul Chavez. It's a low-risk signing that gives the Blue Jays the power to keep Molina for two seasons if they like his production. The Blue Jays signed Jose's brother, Bengie, to a one-year $5MM deal four years ago.
Another garbage catcher for the Jays. Oh well, they aren’t competing until 2012 and hopefully JP Arencibia or Travis D’Arnaud will be ready by then.
That’s exactly the point, they aren’t competing for a couple more years and their catching prospects aren’t ready. So why not pay a veteren catcher with a world series ring and a gun for an arm $400K for 1 year to help our young pitching staff? I like it.
Yeah, Arencibia could be ready before then. Molina is really best suited as a backup catcher anyway. Thats probably going to be his role when Buck is catching. Molina is a good defensive catcher though.
AJ Burnett would not have been as good as he was down the stretch if it wasn’t for Jose Molina.
buck, Chavez, J.Molina… How many second-string level catchers does one bottom-dwelling team need?
well when you got that many pitchers, someone’s gotta catch em at spring training.
How many second-string level catchers does one bottom-dwelling team need? Good question. Could just as easily be directed at the Mets, no?
I was wondering that myself. If they ever figure that out I’ll get back to you!
I thought the Rangers were gonna get him ?
This could be an even smarter move if it leads the Rangers to sign Barajas (to a major league contract).
Every team needs 3 catchers.
I hope Chavez gets a fair chance, he was fun to watch and played his heart out.
Agree
So Buck starts, Molina plays twice a week as a back up and Chavez is in AAA for the inevitible call-up when someone is injured?
Hey solid signing, sure he can’t hit, but he doesn’t have to in a year like this. Also, it gives more leverage to Barajas. I think getting that sup pick from Barajas signing would be more important then the money lost on signing Molina. Great move, similar to the Gonzalez signing, to help us get more picks next draft.
Only if Barajas signs a major league contract will they get a supplemental pick. If he gets a minor league deal they get nothing.
So now does this mean Barajas is the new target of the Rangers. Can’t imagine it would be a big help to bring in someone like Bako or Javier Valentin. Rangers might have to go to camp a little thin until Salty proves healthy or Teagarden proves productive.
This being said, maybe give Michael Barrett a shot?
bluejays have a good chance this year i mean they have an awesome pitching staff and they have some good hitters and Jose Molina is an awesome catcher he was in the yankees and he was really good so the bluejays might finish in 3rd or 2nd this year
I hope that is a joke and not a serious post.
Good joke. Were you this bored?
im just a big fan of the bluejays and i actually do think they have a shot this year
How can a player with a .560 ops even be allowed on a major league roster, although Burnett preferred to have him catching so their must be something good about him.
I personally don’t understand the move. They already have a defensive minded catcher in Chavez (who is a better hitter), with similar arm strength. Much like the Alex Gonzalez move when we have John McDonald, I feel like sometimes AA just moves people to move people. Though the return for Halladay was probably as good as we expected, I don’t think turning over an atheletic outfielder of a first baseman is a good Idea. All these experienced players seem to have marginal upsides and are blocking rookies from getting experience. We need to get rid of Overbay, and if we are rebuilding we need to stop picking up low grade old timers to block callups like Ruiz, Dopirak, etc.
bluejays have some good hitters still like lind idk if hes still there and hill and ruiz and overbay
Um, do the Jays really need another catcher who can’t hit?