The Blue Jays exercised Jose Molina's 2011 option, according to MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. The club chose to retain the 35-year-old instead of buying him out for $200K.
Molina hit .246/.304/.377 last year with six homers after signing with the Jays in February. Alex Anthopoulos' low-risk investments in Molina and John Buck paid off this season, but the GM now has a decision to make. J.P. Arencibia appears ready to catch in the big leagues and Buck has expressed interest in returning. It seems unlikely that both Arencibia and Buck will have spots on the team's opening day roster, but Anthopoulos called Buck to tell him the club still has interest in working out a deal (Twitter link).
Good. He seems to have been a good fit as a backup catcher this year, and I can’t imagine many better mentors for JPA next season. I think this means Buck is gone for sure… right?
Sure seems like it. I’d imagine Buck commands a starting job somewhere anyway now, which may not have been realistic with Arencibia around. Gotta imagine they’ll give JP a long leash to succeed.
I’m sure Buck’s desire to stay is genuine but he’s going to get the biggest contract of his career. The Jays aren’t going to give him a multi year deal. Lots of other teams will because he’s the best FA catcher on the market.
who are the teams that will give him this big contract? Almost every team with catching needs have someone in their own system to bring up. This reminds me of Benji Molina last year, has stats but teams have gotten smart enough to not pay for stats alone. He’s below league avg defenisively….he will get a 1 year deal on the open market again
Big is relative but he’ll get more than one year. Yankees and Red Sox both need a catcher for starters.
If only the guy would get down on his damn knees for a ball in the dirt…he’s a horrendous blocking catcher. Swung a good stick though this year and had that game vs. the Rays with Morrow that will be remembered for a long time, throwing out 4 baserunners.
I noticed that during his games against the Twins, and the Star Tribune blogs then reported how fans had been complaining about Molina’s blocking all year.
He definitely tried to smother several balls with his glove and failing, when dropping to his knees and using proper form could’ve gotten the job done. I imagine that must be frustrating to watch on a routine basis.
just ask ricky romero how frustrating it was
Crap… was hoping the Yankees could get him back as their third catcher next year (behind Posada and Montero)
The saddest thing is that how matter how horrid Molina can be on defense, he would be better than both Posada and Montero combined.
By defense do you mean just getting down and blocking?
You do know that’s not the only thing that defines defense? He is good at throwing out baserunners and calls good games. But you’re right — he is horrid, just look at what he did to Morrow.
Are you actually implying that Morrow was good because Molina caught him? I mean, what if Buck caught Morrow exclusively? *GASP his ERA might have been a point higher! Next you’re going to tell me that JP Arencibia can’t call a game because the pitchers got lit up a few times when he caught. Cito Gaston retired – you can stop acting like him now.
Notice how I said: “CAN BE” as in his defense can be horrible when he lets balls go by.
Lol… if that was the case then Molina continuously wouldn’t have caught him. Even Cito said he wanted to break them up but they were too good together. Morrow really relied on Molina.
“CAN BE” can said about anybody. When Bautista is not hitting… he can be crap – seriously how stupid does that sound?
And I was just pointing out the fact that there is more to defense than letting balls go.
Cito also said Travis Snider would play everyday yet he started Fred Lewis.
Cito also said JP Arencibia would get a chance to play yet he caught once a month because Buck needed 20 HR’s. If you listened to Cito, I feel sorry for you. The only reason that Molina continued to catch Morrow is because Cito was the manager and he was irrational. Again, do you geniunely believe that Morrow wouldn’t have performed as well with Buck as his exclusive catcher? I mean why didn’t Molina catch Romero, Cecil and Marcum considering how other-worldly his game calling skills apparently are. Molina continously caught Morrow because Cito made him. That is the only reason. Furthermore, Morrow really relied on Molina? Yet he continually said that he didn’t need Molina as his personal catcher. Interesting. God forbid Molina gets hurt next year- Morrow may have an ERA over 6 and never be an ace like he would only with Jose Molina! I wouldn’t be talking about how stupid something can sound when you post what you just did. I posted a joke to the Yankee fan, get over it.
If Montero’s going to catch regularly, he’s going to need another year in AAA, and he will have to improve in that year. The big show is not the best place for catchers to work out their issues.
I think he’ll get another year in AAA, or be traded to a team that thinks his bat is ready now, and get moved to first base or DH.
Frankly, I’m hoping Austin Romine develops into the true two-way catcher we need. Montero, unless his bat is going to be Big Papi good, might as well be moved for more pitching.
great guy to have for a veteran to help shape the staff some more, and JP of course… Wonder if he will catch Morrow every game after their success together last season.
Excellent. He was great this season and looks to have saved Morrow’s career lol and I love his leadership.
Arencibia got better and better at calling games towards the end and I think he really learned from Buck and Molina.
I doubt Buck comes back.
yeah it kinda sucks to see buck go after a quality year and him really enjoying himself in Toronto.
Damn… I was half hoping the Cardinals would try to collect the full set of the Flying Molina Brothers.
boo to this. It would be nice to see a catcher who is willing to get down and block pitches. How is he supposed to be this supposed mentor if he causes our pitchers to wrack up wild pitches? (not to mention the extra pitches/stress it puts on our young guns following WPs) It would also be nice to have somebody who is at least willing to pretend like they are hustling down the line.
Aren’t there plenty of defensively-minded catchers out there that could better perform the role of back-up? It is not as if you are particularly looking for much offensive out of your back-up.
Finally, I am not sure what this says about the Jays plans, but no team in there right mind would enter a season with the mindset of molina catching even half of your games. So either they have faith JPA won’t implode or they have other plans. [or I guess they could sign three catchers]
Sorry, why would Molina even attempt to hustle down the lines? He is out either way and everybody in the stadium knows this. Might as well just save his energy for his next at-bat.
first of all i think you are referring to passed balls.. not wild pitches… second of all, if you think molina is brutal behind the plate you must not follow baseball at all.. he rates top 10 in fpct, and based on % would have surpassed kendall in CS if he played full time… There is a reason why the molina’s are regarded as premier defenders
man some of you people are way too critical of a backup catcher, there was probably like, 7 balls TOPS he should have blocked last year but didn’t. oops. not that big of a deal. that number is likely to come down next season.
Nope, I actually mean wild pitches. If you watched last season, you would realize that a large number of “wild pitches” that the pitchers were charged with was due to the catchers not getting down to block breaking pitches. Ya, maybe they should be called passed balls, but anytime a pitcher throws a change up in the dirt and it gets by the swiping glove of Molina, the scorer is going to call it a wild pitch.
Secondly, I never said he was brutal behind the plate, I only mentioned that I would like to see certain other qualities in a major league catcher as well.
You obviously have no idea what a great defensive and great game-calling catcher is.
A fan has no idea what a great game-calling catcher is either. If a pitcher pitches great, the catcher called a great game. If he gets lit up, the catcher sucks at game-calling.
I respectfully disagree.
A good game-calling catcher will call pitches cater to the pitcher’s strenght and the hitter’s weaknesses. It all depends, however, if the pitcher hits his spots. If a catcher can’t adjust thoughout a game (and season), he isn’t a good game-calling catcher.
Again, I am not sure, I actually commented on his game-calling or other defensive abilities.
Sweet. Now with a non-douchebag manager who’s actually interested in developing the team and not just player contracts, hopefully Molina will be back-up to JPA. For all of Cito’s support of padding Buck’s future contract, we’d better NOT sign him!
Don’t worry, Cito sitting in the janitor’s closet in Roger’s Centre won’t decide that Buck ain’t returning.
Interesting that AA wants to work something out with Buck. In theory this could allow the Jays to dangle Arencibia as trade bait this offseason. Their options are to retain an all star catcher and pick up a potential game-changer via trade or develop a AAA MVP. Either option sounds good to me.
HELLO WORLD SERIES!