Chronicles of the Lads

PLAYER REVIEWS: LOS DOS MOLINAS

Bengie:

       G   AB  H  2B 3B  HR  SO  BB  SB  CS  AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS+  EqA  CS%

2004   97 337  93 13  0  10  35  18   0   1  276  313  404   86  .244  26(11)

Car.   97 337  90 15  0  10  31  15   0   1  267  302  385   79  .232  37

Pro.  108 375  99 17  0  10  35  16   0   1  264  294  385   79



Jose:

       G   AB  H  2B 3B  HR  SO  BB  SB  CS  AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS+  EqA  CS%

2004   73 203  53 10  2   3  52  10   4   1  261  296  375   74  .231  49(1)

Car.   73 181  45  9  1   1  43   8   2   1  251  287  341   62  .217

Pro.   53 134  32  6  1   1  33   6   2   1  240  271  328   58

I think one of the undercovered stories for the Angels in 2004 was the defensive dissolution of Bengie Molina. You can see above that he was much worse than normal in throwing out baserunners, but that's not all. Look at his passed balls per nine innings:

2002:  .044

2003:  .038

2004:  .071

Now, I'm going to say something here. You should all sit down, and make sure there is no liquid in your mouth that you don't want sprayed on your keyboard. Okay?

You ready?

Bengie Molina is fat and slow.

Take a minute to get your head around that one, so we can continue.

Catchers, as a breed, are slow. But what they have to be is quick. Throwing out runners depends at least as much on footwork as on arm strength, so to be a good catcher you have to be quick and agile with your feet. You have to be able to jump up in a split-second. Otherwise you don't block balls in the dirt and you don't throw out baserunners.

I believe Bengie Molina has reached critical mass here, folks. He's just not as quick and agile behind the plate as he was two years ago. Yes, he's older. He's more injury prone. And there's more weight for him to try to quickly shift to catch the Carl Crawfords of the world.

Jose, in comparison to his brother, is lithe and agile. He went crazy throwing out runners last year, and allowed .051 PB/9 IP. Jose had a great, great year with the glove, and I think his being in relative good shape was a factor in that.

The problem, of course, is that Jose can't really hit. I mean, he did do well by his standards last year, but I don't know that we can count on him doing that again. He seems to be a hard worker, so maybe it is. If he really is in the same neighborhood as Bengie as a hitter, and Bengie's defensive shortcomings continue to grow and his longcomings continue to shrink, there's not much point to keeping Bengie around past 2005.

Both these guys are placeholders, anyway, while we wait for Jeff Mathis. Jeff Mathis, who hit a horrific 223/308/392 in his first extended bout with AA, last season.

Depending on how Mathis bounces back, catcher could be a problem for the Lads in 2006. But, for 2005, Los Dos Molinas should continue to provide their blend of somewhat acceptable offense (for a catcher) and high-upside defense to the Angels. The position shouldn't be a sore on the Angels' 2005, but barring a resurgence in health and defense for Bengie it won't be a source of great strength, either.