Appreciating Bengie now

But indeed, he’s been a real good Giant and is fun to root for. He also joins Vizquel in the “Criticized veteran signings that turned out to be pretty good” category.

But the conditioning, I think, we can blame him for. He’s a good player, but damn if it isn’t frustrating know that he can’t score from 2nd on a routine single to the OF.

It’s going to take me a while to get over last night.

But all in all, Bengie’s been a big asset considering the circumstances we signed him under.

I love Bengie as a catcher.

I do not love Bengie as a clean up hitter, as his 6 men left on base last night shows.

If Bengie weren’t slower then a snail, he would have 25 more doubles a year. The guy hits about 25 singles off the outfield wall. He needs to hit one into triples alley to get a double. And a rare triple, every solar eclipse or so, on a ball that would be an inside the park homerun for a guy as slow as Rich Aurillia. Molna puts new meaning into the term, station to station. With Fielder on the field for Milwaukee. it looked like fielder was the Papa Panda, Pablo was the mama Panda, and Bengie was the baby Panda.

That is what no speed does.

Bengie Molina is a man who is beloved by many — and not for little reason (in more ways than one). When the Giants played the Angels in spring training a year ago, considerable love clearly existed between Bengie and those who knew him from his time there.

Bengie has stated he would like to play the rest of his career for the Giants. Clearly he has found his love for the team, even if the Giants don’t provide a winning situation.

So what to do when such a fine warrior plays the position of your best position prospect, the one you are grooming to start at Bengie’s position for about 15 years, starting with next season? What do you do when Buster Posey’s arrival so neatly coincides with the end of Bengie’s contract?

One answer would be to keep Bengie around as the backup catcher so that he could mentor Buster. Probably a better mentor couldn’t be found. But as much as Bengie would love to stay with the Giants, I suspect starting means more to him. Plus, he deserves far more pay than that of a backup catcher.

Another answer would be to use each of them at catcher, with Buster taking advantage of his versatility by also playing another position. That’s actually not a bad idea — except that I doubt the Giants want to partially interrupt the development of their future All-Star backstop.

The more I think about that latter idea, the more I like it. On days the Giants wanted to play Bengie, Buster AND Pablo Sandoval, Pablo could play first base. It will almost certainly be at least 2011 before Angel Villalona is ready, and it’s not like taking time Travis Ishikawa would be the worst thing in the world. In fact, if the Giants had the aforementioned quartet to play three positions — with Posey playing the most and Ishikawa the least but being a possible defensive replacement — the situation could work out fairly well.

But the Giants surely want Buster to catch — and likely want a better-hitting corner infielder than Travis Ishikawa as a starter. (Can Matt Holliday play eitther corner? :)

So unless the Giants decide to use Buster a fair amount at other positions in order to save his legs for a longer career, it would appear Bengie is a goner — perhaps as soon as the trade deadline.

I have been amazed by how durable Bengie has been as a Giant. If you had told me when the Giants signed him that the Giants would have a top prospect ready to replace him at the end of his contract, I would mostly have been hoping that Bengie could stay healthy long enough for the prospect not to need to be rushed.

Instead, Bengie has played so well, been so popular and been so durable that an awkward situation is developing. It would be wonderful if all parties concerned could each have his desires be met. But that appears less likely than a stolen base from Bengie.

The Giants could always keep Bengie as a pinch runner!