Has there ever been a more hollow .292?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I think you're forgetting that most of his focus is on catching and calling the game.

I'll take a .290/.350/.380 on top of how well he does that, any day of the week. Even the .260/.300/.350 that you put out there. Even though he is improving from that, as he has proven. It's just just a hot "streak", it's been nearly a whole month now.

You're setting a pretty low standard. Last year, 28 catchers got at least 300 PA's. The only ones not to make a .650 OPS were Molina, Ausmus, and Schneider(.649). No matter the position, if you have a hitter that poor playing everyday, then it puts more strain on the rest of the lineup to produce, and you need to be better throughout the lineup to atone for it.

[Balltilyafall4]

This is weird. I try to shed some light on Molina's hot streak by showing that it's lukewarm at best and only about three people so far appreciate it.

Penguin, since Yadier Molina has shown that he's no better than a .260/.300/.350 player, he needs to be able to draw walks. And I don't think I should have to explain the importance of the base on balls. Just remember that when the hits stop falling for Yadier and he regresses, that he's not going to be getting on base at a .372 clip.

And I'm not "bashing" Yadier Molina. Bashing him would be giving the middle finger to his hot streak without providing any reasoning. Just giving the ole "the guy sucks and he'll always suck." I provided enough evidence as to why his .292 is empty. It's not even that I don't LIKE Molina. I want him to get a hit all the time, but I would rather he scatter some walks, hit some home runs and pound some doubles besides hitting singles. Yes, we can say that Yadi's providing a spark of sorts, but when your OPS+ is 95, it isn't much of a spark to a team that needs a guy to do more.

Molina isn't the problem, nor has he been the problem with this offense the last year+...

He isn't on the team to hit, period..

No one was complaining when Matheny was hitting his "hallow" .260, or worse (I'm far too lazy to look it up) because we had guys like Rolen, Edmonds, Pujols, and Renteria hitting like they were supposed to..

Let's not divert our attention away from the real problems, which are that the three best hitters on the team couldn't really hit their way out of a paper sack right now (although AP and Edmonds are getting a little hotter)

Molina is by far the least of this offense's worries..and the mere fact that we are attacking a guy who is the leading hitter (avg. wise) on the team and calling his avg. hallow right now is laughable considering the rest of the hitters "success" so far this year

Just my $0.02

[lazypenguin]

I think you're forgetting that most of his focus is on catching and calling the game.

I'll take a .290/.350/.380 on top of how well he does that, any day of the week. Even the .260/.300/.350 that you put out there. Even though he is improving from that, as he has proven. It's just just a hot "streak", it's been nearly a whole month now.

You're setting a pretty low standard. Last year, 28 catchers got at least 300 PA's. The only ones not to make a .650 OPS were Molina, Ausmus, and Schneider(.649). No matter the position, if you have a hitter that poor playing everyday, then it puts more strain on the rest of the lineup to produce, and you need to be better throughout the lineup to atone for it.

We're focusing on this year and the rise in Molina's stats. .722 OPS by the way.

[GatewaySnayke]

Quick, I need backup from the Sabermetric Legion of Doom!

[Balltilyafall4]

Matheny's stats with the Cards

2000 - .261 in 400 PA
2001 - .218 in 381 PA
2002 - .244 in 315 PA
2003 - .252 in 441 PA
2004 - .247 in 385 PA

Oh, and he averaged just under 6 HR's a season with the Cards and right around 45 RBI's..

Point is..no one was complaining during Matheny's time here because we had players who could hit and we didn't NEED Matheny to hit....it's not Molina's fault that the team is constructed differently then what it was back then...they were looking for a guy to do exactly what Matheny did while he was here...I'm pretty sure Molina would be a mirror image of Mike at this point, both offensively and defensively

But Yadi is everyone's favorite whipping boy (along with Juan E)...so continue bashing his obviously improving offensive ability and avoid discussing how our "stars" can't hit for crap right now

[cabby7588]

Yadier is our best defensive player, and has the best average on the team. Right now, he may be our best player, minus Looper.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I think you're forgetting that most of his focus is on catching and calling the game.

I'll take a .290/.350/.380 on top of how well he does that, any day of the week. Even the .260/.300/.350 that you put out there. Even though he is improving from that, as he has proven. It's just just a hot "streak", it's been nearly a whole month now.

You're setting a pretty low standard. Last year, 28 catchers got at least 300 PA's. The only ones not to make a .650 OPS were Molina, Ausmus, and Schneider(.649). No matter the position, if you have a hitter that poor playing everyday, then it puts more strain on the rest of the lineup to produce, and you need to be better throughout the lineup to atone for it.

We're focusing on this year and the rise in Molina's stats. .722 OPS by the way.

A .722 would be 20th out of 28, still very bad for what amounts to a peak in his production.

[Dillagii]

Yadier is our best defensive player, and has the best average on the team. Right now, he may be our best player, minus Looper.

I know you are taking about this year. That said, Chris Duncan might disagree with you. So does Albert Pujols.

[lazypenguin]

For the sake of the argument...

Molina has the highest BA on the team (outside of Wainwright). Only Duncan, Pujols, and Spiezio have a higher SLG, OPS, and OBP.

I think Yadi is the least of our worries.

[Socnorb11]

Molina is 3rd on the team among hitters in VORP.

You're digging pretty deep to find reason to dog on Molina's performance this year.