Bengie Molina

Surprisingly, a lot of Yankees fans last night had hope. There seemed to be some hope that despite his struggles all season long, A.J. Burnett was going to give his team a winning effort and help his team even up the series with the Texas Rangers.

That hope seemed to be a reality, until manager Joe Girardi messed with it.

The notion that Tim Lincecum's woeful performance in August was prompted by rookie catcher Buster Posey tipping pitches is utterly ridiculous.

Of course, the desperate search to explain how poorly Lincecum has pitched lately leads fans to suggest he cut his hair and has manager Bruce Bochy saying the two-time Cy Young Award winner needs to work harder to get in better condition during the offseason.

Thanks to Marty Lurie of KNBR, I got the idea to write just how good the Giants are and how well certain players are performing compared to previous seasons.
As August begins, the Giants begin a difficult two months to catch the first place Padres. Starting off the second half going 8-1 in the division and 13-4 overall, they're the hottest team in baseball. Giants' players are peaking at the right time and this team is having fun again as they fight for a post-season berth.

It's been an incredible year so far, and fans have a lot to look forward to in the coming months.

What do Craig Biggio, Pablo Sandoval, and Neil Walker have in common? All three saw a significant amount of time behind the plate in the minors but found new positions in the big leagues.

The trend of moving young catchers to other positions because of their defensive deficiencies behind the plate or to increase longevity has left fantasy owners with a diluted pool of catchers from which to choose. 

Bengie Molina didn't win the the San Francisco Giants' Willie Mac Award twice because him teammates liked how he looked in his uniform. He was, obviously, a very popular and respected teammate.

Let's put the idea that his departure to the Texas Rangers will spell doom for Giants pitchers to rest immediately, however.

The Bengie Molina trade has been getting a lot of attention on the Internet, I assume because Bengie was once a big star and because people have wildly varying opinions of his value as a ballplayer.

I saw on mlbtraderumors.com that the player to be named later the Giants will likely receive is Michael Main, a 21-year-old RHP, whom the Rangers selected with the 24th overall pick of the 2007 Draft. 

If Main is the PTBNL the Giants do, in fact, receive, he’s worth the $2 million in salary for Molina the Giants are sending to Texas.

Word of the San Francisco Giants trading catcher Bengie Molina to the Texas Rangers spread quickly following the team’s loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday afternoon. By Thursday, the deal became official.

Molina, who was still with the Giants on Thursday, will hop a on plane to Texas and be formally introduced as a Ranger.

In return, the Giants get RHP Chris Ray and minor league RHP Michael Main. Ray fly will to Colorado to join San Francisco while Main will head to Double-A Richmond.

While the MLB trade deadline is more than four weeks away, the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers swapped catcher Bengie Molina for reliever Chris Ray and a player to be named later on Thursday.

Although this deal may appear insignificant on the surface, it’s important to understand how this trade affects not only the fantasy values of the players involved, but others as well.

Update: (9:27pm CDT) The deal is official according to both Scott Boeck of USA Today and Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports.

Bengie Molina will head to the Rangers for Chris Ray and a player to be named later.

The Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants are apparently close to a deal that would send catcher Bengie Molina to the Rangers.

Even after absorbing Tuesday's loss to the visiting Baltimore Orioles, the San Francisco Giants are humming along now that May is but a memory.

Since the calendar flipped to June, the Gents (quick note—I don't care that the New York nickname was Gints and neither does anyone else in the Bay Area) are 9-5. If you include the last five games of a mediocre preceding month, San Francisco is 13-6.

So things are good for the baseball-conscious in the City.

Nevertheless, there are three glaring and potentially enduring problems with the club.