Bengie Molina has re-signed, for less then the Mets offered, with the San Francisco Giants.
Molina signed a one-year, $4.5 million deal with the Giants. The Mets had offered $5 million plus, according to Jon Heyman.
Whew.
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Also, Pedro Feliciano ($2.9 million) and Sean Green ($975,000) have agreed to one-year deals with the Mets, avoiding arbitration.
Angel Pagan is the only Met without a contract. And he now holds all the cards.
According to Buster Olney’s tweet, Bengie Molina has rejected the Mets latest offer.
My thoughts in short: Good. Very good.
Olney also mentions that the Mets are focusing more on Joel Pineiro.
My thoughts in short: Good. Kind of good.
Yesterday, I wrote that Bengie Molina lowered his demands and was willing to take a two-year deal. In today’s NY Post, Mike Puma backs up this statement.
Last night, Tim Kurkjian of ESPN said that Molina and the Mets could have an agreement within “the next 48 to 72 hours.”
It seems inevitable at this point. No other team has shown a real interest in signing Molina and the Mets seem to have him near the top of their wishlist. It seems to be just a matter of time.
Bengie Molina, one of the Mets targets from the start, has lowered his asking price according to FOX Sports.
Molina, who had been holding at three years, is now “willing to sign for two years.”
Jon Paul Morosi writes that this raises “the likelihood of a long-expected union with the New York Mets.”
This isn’t exactly new news, as the Mets have seemed unwillingly to go three years on Molina. The Mets are believed to have offered two years to Molina and have been rumored to offer a one year contract plus an option for a second.
Now that Molina is willing to sign for two years, the marriage between the team and the player are one step closer to a deal.
Update – 2:06 p.m.: Ben Shpigel and David Lennon both confirm that offers are going out to Bay and Molina.
Original Post: As Steve Popper tweeted earlier, the Mets were planning on making offers to two players before leaving the meetings. According to Mike Francesa on WFAN, the Mets will make offers to Jason Bay and Bengie Molina.
“I know these deals are going out today,” Francesa said on WFAN, citing his sources.
We all knew Molina was coming. Bay is the surprising one, especially with Matt Holliday still on the market.
For Bay, is this negotiating with intent to sign him, leverage for Holliday, a play for another team to chase Bay now? It could be any of those or many more.
Your thoughts? Hit the comments.
Update 12:12 p.m.: According to Steve Popper, citing a baseball official(?), the Mets have not offered Molina a two-year deal. “Interested, but hoping for 1,” he writes.
Original Post: According to a blog post by David Lennon from Newsday (pay site), if Bengie Molina accepts a two-year, $12 million deal, he will be the newest Met.
Lennon writes that if Molina refuses the two-year deal, the Mets could look at alternatives, such as Yorvit Torrealbla, who is available for one year, just to play in New York.
You might remember that Torrealba was almost a Met a few years ago, but the deal fell through. Torrealba was not quiet about the matter, so it’s a little strange that he’s so willing to come to NY.
Still, here’s to hoping that Molina sticks to his demands of three years. $12 million is a lot of money.
Henry Blanco, who played in 67 games with the San Diego Padres last season, is traveling to New York for a physical, according to El Nacional, via Adam Rubin.
Blanco, who would be the second catcher the Mets signed this off-season, hit .235 / .320 / .382 in 204 at bats last year with six home runs and 16 RBI.
This means one of three things to me.
1. The Mets don’t think they will sign Bengie Molina (be it they don’t want to pay or they think they’ll be outbid, we’ll see), and are stockpiling catchers because they don’t fully trust any of them.
2. The Mets are doing this to signal to Molina, “Hey, we don’t really need you, but we’ll sign you for X amount anyway.” Sort of a bargaining chip trying to give the Mets leverage.
3. They are really taking the progression of Josh Thole seriously. Bringing in veteran catchers, no matter their stats, who can give the young Thole tips, tricks and insight to playing in the league for so long. Catchers are considered the most knowledgeable position. Could this be the Mets creating a “Catching High Council” to tutor the future?
The San Francisco Giants did not offer catcher Bengie Molina arbitration, meaning he will not cost the team that signs him draft picks.
Here’s a collection of reaction from around the Mets blogosphere…
MetsBlog - News: Giants do NOT offer Arbitration to Molina
…from what i can gather, the Giants are likely to offer molina a one-year deal, worth around $4 million, with incentives… but, i bet the Mets offer him a similar deal, with an option for 2011, and a bit more money… and i have no idea why, which you can read more about here…
Amazin’ Avenue - Obligatory Bengie Molina Objection Post
It also seemingly clears the way for the unholy union between Molina and the Mets, not that something like draft pick compensation would've stood in the way between Omar Minaya and a lousy baseball decision (we weren't going to sign that draft pick anyway!).
Mets Fever - Giants don't offer arby to Molina
Well the Mets don't have to worry about making that decision, since the Giants decided to not offer him arbitration, it's not all good news since now he becomes appealing to any team looking for a catcher.
I’m far from enamored with Molina. I think he’s overpriced and not worth anywhere near the contract he’ll likely sign for (probably with the Mets).
What’s your take on the Molina situation?
The Mets and free-agent catcher Henry Blanco have been talking, according to Ken Rosenthal (via Amazin’ Avenue).
Rosenthal points out that Blanco would likely serve as a backup as the Mets are targeting Bengie Molina as their catcher for 2010 and beyond.
I don’t like this.
1) Blanco, who is mediocre at best, had been with seven organizations in 12 years. He’s a decent player off the bench, but isn’t that what Omir Santos is?
And 2) Molina is going to cost so much money and his OBP is awful.
Then again, the catching market out there is terrible and these might be the Mets best options.
If Blanco is just an insurance plan for if/when Santos “falls back to earth” (as if his sub-.300 OBP was so special anyway), I can understand. But the Molina thing…Oy!
Unless you’d be content with Santos/Josh Thole platoon?
The Mets need a catcher. Bengie Molina is available. The Mets will likely be interested.
Say the Mets sign Molina and pair him with Omir Santos as the Mets catchers in 2010, can you imagine the battle to keep their combined OBP above .600?
Here is a chart with Santos’ and Molina’s OBP for every year from 2001 on, Santos’ first year in pro ball. All numbers for Santos are minor league stats except for 2009.
Please, no. Don’t let it happen. I don’t want to see a two-man battle for futility.
