Yea apparently Clemens is horrendous on defense at any position. And unfortunately we have a first baseman and left fielder who probably won't be going anywhere for a while. DH 4 Life.
Well if Puma gets traded this season then Koby might be a candidate to feel in. I get a Ty Winnington vibe from Koby...who knows.
My intentions weren't really to get into Molina. The heart of the discussion was about if Castro is ready for the big leagues. Having said that, the truth is that in Molina's two best offensive years of his career (2005 & 2006), he was still below average compared to all qualified catchers. OPS is a nice statistic but it undervalues OBP, which is actually much more important when it comes to scoring runs. I'm not sure if you're familiar with wOBA but it's like a super OPS with proper weighting of OBP and SLG. Here is a nice little primer on wOBA for anybody unfamiliar with it: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/the-joy-of-woba If you sort by wOBA for every year of Molina's career, you will see that even in his best years, he was a subpar hitting catcher. His inability to get on base far outweighs his slugging ability. It really is that bad. wOBA year-by-year for qualified catchers: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=c&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=1&season=2005&month=0 Molina: http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=24&position=C Molina's greatest value is what he can do behind the plate, even in the latter part of his career where he improved as a slugger (while cotinuing to be among the worst in baseball at getting on base). The reason Posey is not up this season is two-fold based on what I've read and heard from Giants fans: a) He's not ready to catch at this level, esp. for pitchers like Lincecum and Cain. b) They want to extend their control over him to 2016. Molina's deal is heavily incentive laden, meaning that they will be able to cut ties with him pretty easily should they decide to call up Posey later in the season. Posey is ready to hit at this level and will probably end up being talked about with the McCanns and Mauers when it comes to offensive production. It's about keeping control of him and catching, which is a very tough position to learn, especially for a converted infielder, and ultimately, the most important part of a catcher's job description. That's why guys like Ausmus lasted so long. The hitting is important but secondary to handling pitchers and playing the position.
