I haven’t been terribly impressed with the Giants offseason moves – though the injury to Freddy Sanchez (the Chris Brown of the new millenium?) makes some of their transactions appear more reasonable in context.

But I am happy about one move: bringing back Bengie Molina. I was in favor of giving him more than one year to keep him around. But the Giants were able to get him for just a one-year, $4.5 million contract.

It was kind of an afterthought transaction, born out of Molina’s willingness to turn down more money with the Mets. But it may prove to be the Giants most important move for 2010.

I like Bengie’s bat, obviously. “Big Money” has been the Giants best hitter for the past two years -before Pablo Sandoval started to develop. He’s had the best numbers in the post-Bonds era. And if he can hit lower in the order, it will only help him and the Giants.

But what I really, really like is Bengie’s presence in the clubhouse, his influence on the young players and his mastery behind the plate with the talented pitching staff. I found it troubling that the Giants – at one point – seemed so willing to part with a player of so much influence, while admitting that Buster Posey wasn’t ready to be a full-time catcher.

Now they have the best of both worlds – a very good catcher to mentor Posey (and while Bengie seemed, at times last year, reluctant to be shoved out the door in favor of a novice, he seems to have come to peace with that and has already reached out to Posey to start the partnership in the transition of power behind the plate). Meanwhile, the best part of the Giants team – the stellar pitching staff – will be able to rely on Molina’s experience. And the Giants young players – particularly, though not exclusively, the Latin players – will retain their mentor. Molina was instrumental in Sandoval’s emergence last year (and Sandoval has been instrumental in bringing joy to Molina’s late career years: Bengie told me last year that Sandoval was the most inspirational young player he had ever been around).

Molina is a classy veteran, who works hard, respects the game and is eager and willing to impart his knowledge and experience to younger players.

Of all the Giants moves, this afterthought of a deal is the best one.

Tags: Bengie Molina, Giants

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 1:57 am and is filed under Bay Area Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.