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Once again, it’s good to be a Molina. Last winter, Bengie cashed in with the Giants. This time, Yadier has hit the jackpot, re-signing with the St. Louis Cardinals for 4 years, $15.5 million.
Molina and the Cardinals had been scheduled for arbitration, with Molina asking for $2.75 million and the club offering $1.85. Molina earned $525,000 in 2007, so even if he’d lost arbitration, he would’ve won big time.
Molina batted .275/.340/.368 last year and owns a career line of .248/.304/.349 over three seasons and change. He’s 25 years old and he comes with a stellar …read more

I’ve been joking about the postseason success of lousy-hitting catchers whose names begin with the letter Y, but this is a little ridiculous:

Yorvit Torrealba 2007

 
PA
BA
OBP
SLG

Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference and are through games of October 14, 2007.

regular season
443
.255
.323
.376

postseason
25
.381
.480
.619

Yadier Molina 2006

 
PA
BA
OBP
SLG

Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference and are through games of October 14, 2007.

regular season
461
.216
.274
.321

postseason
59
.358
.424
.547

Hmmm, Yosh Bard has a nice ring to it…

Friday belonged to the American League (and the bugs). Today it’s the Senior Circuit’s chance to shine. Two mid-market NL West teams look to complete sweeps against big spenders from the east.

Diamondbacks at Cubs, 3:00 p.m. PT — The good news, if you’re a Cubs fan, is that this one’s in Chicago. The bad news is that Livan Hernandez gets the start for Arizona. Yeah, he’s got an ERA near 5.00 and his peripherals are nauseating, but the guy has been lights-out in the playoffs throughout his career (the World Series is a different story, but we’re not there yet). …read more