Yeah, Bengie is still looking good now but when catchers fall off the cliff, it happens hard and fast. I wouldn’t tempt fate.

so did Branch Rickey

Well, so long as you can replace the guy. And between Posey and Sandoval, the Giants can absolutely replace Bengie.

“he was capable in college which doesn’t always translate to the pro game”

And it isn’t worth a try because?

why don’t the Giants try during the beginning of spring training or something, just to see!

Going to go out on a limb and say it depends what the organization has as catching alternatives.

Agreed. Unless he is an absolute failure at calling games, or his arm falls off, there is no reason to shift him. He is one of the very few catchers out there that is projected to be a plus defender and plus bat. You don’t diminish that value by sticking him in a different spot, just because you’re shy at that spot. If you need a second baseman, go get a second baseman, don’t diminish your strengths for positional concerns.

Bengie Molina is arguably the best hitter in our lineup, definitely the best RBI man

That isn’t praise of Molina, it’s damnation of the slapjacks batting 1-6 in the order.

For extra credit:

What franchise has two thumbs and could manage to convert two great catchers into mediocre infielders?

And, if you want to make the CLUTCH argument.

Career splits for RISP:

DeRosa – .283/.370/.420 — .790 OPS
Molina – .294/.332/.439 — .771 OPS

I honestly don’t think the 71 (!!!) innings at 3B contributed to his 2nd half slump.

Martin himself admits that he did wear down because of overplaying:

This couldn’t be the same restless kid who did whatever he could to talk his way out of days off last season and played 155 games, could it? But there was Martin, seated in front of his locker, nodding in agreement when told of Manager Joe Torre’s desire to limit him to 140 games behind the plate this season. “Before I just lied to myself even if I didn’t feel good. I was just hardheaded, saying I was ready to play 162 games. You just lose that edge, you lose that explosiveness, you know? A day off can do a lot further down the road.”

He spoke at length about this same topic in another article, just can’t find it. You gain so much more having a fresh catcher behind the dish with an occasional day off than having a worn down catcher/3B playing 150, 155 games a year. I know the Indians are having some success with Victor Martinez splitting time between C and 1B, but 1B is a less demanding position and he can DH on days when his legs are toast. NL teams, like the Braves, with top Cs don’t do this with their guys.

That is, in fact, why it was crazy to move Burriss to 2B.

I’d like to see Adrianza pull his slugging percentage above .300 and play more than a couple dozen games over the rookie ball level before I annoint him the shortstop of the future and everyone else better get out of the way, regardless of what J.T. Snow might say about his defense. By pretty much any standard, Crawford has got to be considered ahead of Adrianza on the prospect totem pole right now, and it’s premature at best to talk about moving him away from shortstop, especially when defense has always been seen as one of his strengths and, as I said, the organization has a lot more depth at the position you’re proposing moving him to than the one you’re proposing moving him from.

Your argument about Sandoval reminds me of what I was saying in favor of starting Bill Mueller at third in 1997, except in 1997 the Giants had more than enough offense and power to play a guy like Mueller at a position for which his offensive profile seems ill-suited. That’s not really the case with the 2009 Giants. Oh, and also, the position you want to move him to – left field – is currently occupied with one of the Giants better players, albeit one who’s been slumping lately.

Posey and Crawford and Villalona have shown waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than Adrianza has.

Posey and Villalona are among the top 100 prospects in all of baseball. Crawford has had maybe the best start of any hitter in the system. Meanwhile, Adrianza doesn’t usually crack the top 10 list for the Giants and has played very little above Rookie ball. And he came into this season with a lower minor league slugging percentage than Burriss or Bocock.

You’re right, of course, that none of these guys are sure things. That’s true of every single player in the minor leagues. But it’s still apples and oranges.

I understand he has a great glove, but that seems comically high for someone who’s never really hit.

I’m not aware of any other list that had Adrianza in the top ten. Given that Baggarly also had Jackson Williams at #16 this year and Eugenio Velez at #7 last year, I’m a bit skeptical of guys he ranks a lot higher than anyone else.

To be fair, I don’t think anyone had Crawford in the top ten.

Re: Bengie hitting like Bengie vs. any player hitting like they’re projected – there is no guarantee that anyone will hit like they should, you’re right, however I think there is probably historical precedent that a 35-year old catcher will not improve and will likely decline. I’d rather all in on Posey (provided he continues to maintain or improve as he’s promoted) than pay millions to a vet catcher in decline that a manager will feel compelled to start.

Regarding teams not moving players – lots of teams try this. The Padres stuck Chase Headley – a superior third baseman – in LF because he was blocked by Kouzmanoff, and the collected wisdom is that if the Padres are ever able to trade Kouz, they’d stick Headley right back at third. (They’re having their top 1B prospect, Kyle Blanks, taking flies in LF, so moving Kouz and shifting Headley back to third might be coming sooner than thought.) Ian Stewart is blocked at third, so they’re sticking him at second whenever possible until they can trade Atkins and return him to third or until Helton DLs, Atkins shifts to 1B and Stewart goes back to 3B. The difference – IMO – is that the catching position is harder to master and catching prospects need to practice in order to succeed. If every catching prospect could just go out and play other positions without it hurting their development, they would.

My main problem with all this fantasy multi-position roto talk is that Posey’s value is as a catcher. To shift him to another position, even if for a year, diminishes his value to the team AND could potentially damage his development at the catcher position. A lot of players could play other positions, but they don’t because they are more valuable in the position they’re in.

So assume you have me pegged here, cuz I certainly wouldn’t want to ruin any part of the draft for Bengie.

“Type A or Type B” refers to the rating that baseball gives Bengie based on his performance. Its effect on the Giants is that their compensatory pick for losing him to free agency is better the better his rating is. So the point was that it’s better to lose him after a good year than a bad one.

As for calling up Buster, I don’t think there’s a catcher in MLB who’s been called up before completing two full seasons in the minors, usually three or four. Since Buster’s in his first, it’s hard to believe he’ll be a starting catcher before 2011 at the soonest.

Shit. That’s no good. I have similiar back issues to his, a chronic back sprain. The pain has reduced me to tears and lying down somewhere because moving my lower body hurts. :/

I highly doubt that it’s congenital, or he never would have been drafted as a catcher. Think chronic, instead.

Pablo’s #6 in VORP for MLB third basemen. If you think that his two partial seasons have been a fluke, that’s one thing. But the available evidence so far suggests he can hit enough for third.

But it’s easier to find a replacement level second baseman than a stud catcher. All this talk of moving Posey is honestly making me feel like we’re Padres fans or something. We have an unbelievably gifted and highly thought of catcher prospect and we’re talking about cramming him at another position just because we’re impatient to get that position filled and/or get him to the majors. That’s just nuts to me.

So can Carlos Zambrano.