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2008 That the NL Gold Glove voters gave last year's catching award to Russell Martin rather than Molina is right up there with the time they awarded Rafael Palmeiro after he'd played just 28 games in the field. The only possible explanation is to acknowledge that the award has nothing to do with defensive performance. Molina is the best defensive catcher in baseball and has an arm that changes the way Cardinals opponents play the game. He should have three Gold Glove awards, and he's still waiting for his first. The voting pool for the award is destroying the credibility of what should be a great honor, and should be drained posthaste. 2007 Molina`s blistering postseason erased one of the twenty worst VORP showings of the expansion era from short-term memory. That`s a fancy way of saying he was a historically bad hitter, settling in at number nine between the pre-Operation Shutdown (but still just as miserable) Derek Bell of the 1999 Astros and Jerry Morales of the 1979 Tigers. If Molina could just hit at replacement level, he`d be an extremely valuable commodity since his defense last year was superb. 2006 He`s a glove guy, but has some potential with the bat. Molina`s an extreme contact hitter, drawing a walk or striking out only 53 times in over 400 PA. A few extra breaks here and there, and Molina could invoke Jazayerli`s .300 Catcher Corollary any minute now. He`s got youth and defense on his side, so you can expect a long career, probably with a couple of performance spikes. However, those years are more likely to start in 2008 than 2006. 2005 He's every bit a Molina, like his brothers in Anaheim: admirable defensive skills, inadequate bat. However, his age is such that you can hope for improvement. Expect Matheny levels of production with maybe a handful more homers, and at much lower cost. He's best suited to a backup role, but this organization seems to be seeking some sort of methadone to battle their Matheny addiction. They've found it.
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