Catcher - 2006

[Frayed Knot]

Jojima returns to Japan "for personal reasons" and will not meet with the Mets as scheduled. No word on any return engagements.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Diss'd.

[metirish]

Can't get no respect...Omar won't like this...

[MFS62]

FK,
where did you hear/read that?

Later

[Guest sharpie]

Get back, Jojima.
Your mama's waiting for you.

[Frayed Knot]

MFS62 wrote: FK, where did you hear/read that? Later

WFAN radio

Earlier

[Valadius]

Seattle, here he comes.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Seem to be dominoes falling here. Speculation is that he rescheduled his trip because the Mets, by trading Cammie, filled their wallets with money to bait bigger fish.

[Frayed Knot]

From Jon Heyman's column in Sunday's Newsday:

With Kenji Jojima showing no interest in coming to New York, the Mets' main catching choices come down to Bengie Molina and Ramon Hernandez. But to some Mets scouts, there's only one choice: Hernnandez. While Molina looked good in the playoffs, the Mets have surprisingly negative scouting reports on his defense.


Those negative reports dove-tail with the opinion from the Hardball Times that opened this thread, and also a on-line report I saw the other day somewhere (Baseball Prospectus?) showing Bengie-boy with the worst passed ball ratio of any catcher in the league.
And that body ain't goin' to be gettin' any younger or, most likely, any smaller.

I haven't seen a ton of Hernandez but I like the fact that he's 2 years younger than Molina and a bit more athletic. Plus it would be nice if the team wasn't swayed by those over-rating (IMO) Molina based on a handful of playoff appearances and NYY games (cough *Francesa* cough).

[Guest cleonjones11]

SOLID EVERYDAY CATCHER....ABOVE AVERAGE SKILLS PLUS ARM DURABLE...15 HR 70 RBI .270 MAYBE 120 GAMES CASTRO THE REST...

WHATS NOT TO LIKE

METS HAVEN'T HAD GREAT SUCCESS WITH JAPS...KASHIWADA...KOO...KAZ AT LEAST ONES THAT START WITH "K"

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Eek.

[Valadius]

No. Just no.

[metirish]

Jesus Cleon could you be a bit sensitive with the caps and japs...my people are telling me that Molina has weight problems, who hasn't that problem though.

[nymr83]

i'd sooner pass on molina AND hernandez and make do with what we have. while both are upgrades to Castro they will probably receive too much money to make them worth bringing here.

[Guest GYC]

http://rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.asp?leaguenum=&sport=MLB&id=6032


Paul Lo Duca - C - Marlins


The New York Daily News believes the Mets have talked to the Marlins about Paul Lo Duca as well as Luis Castillo.

Both will be available if the Marlins decide to go with a $40 million payroll. Writers Adam Rubin and Bill Madden also believe that Carlos Delgado, if traded, is more likely to go to the Orioles than the Mets. Nov. 21 - 4:40 am et

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

If reports are to be believed, it appears that the Mets and Marlins are trying to swap teams. The Mets are reportedly pursuing trades for Carlos Delgado, Luis Castillo, and Paul LoDuca. Might as well try to get them to throw in Miguel Cabrera and Josh Becket too while we're at it.

All this leads me to think that OMar and Larry Beinfest have had a conversation or two since the end of the season. Of course the media keeps mentioning every WATP that it can think of in order to have something to write about.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

M's to sign Japanese catcher Johjima

By Bob Finnigan
Seattle Times staff reporter

Scoring the first big-name free-agent signing of the offseason, the Mariners will announce the signing of catcher Kenji Johjima, possibly as soon as today.

Sources say that Johjima has agreed to terms with Seattle. His name is much bigger in Japan, where he has averaged .305 with 30 homers the past five years and won seven straight Gold Gloves.

The Mariners increased their offer late last week from two years plus a club option for a third year to more than $5 million a year for three years, a deal that also includes incentives.

Also, Johjima and his family were said to take a liking to the Northwest in their visit last weekend.

Seattle general manager Bill Bavasi declined to comment on the imminent announcement of the signing.

Instead, Bavasi said, "if we are lucky enough to sign Johjima, he would fit in playing on an everyday basis."

Seattle scouts have given Johjima high marks as a two-way player.

"Our people tell us he has high potential as an offensive player and a solid defensive catcher," Bavasi said.

Bavasi dismissed what most U.S. baseball men have seen as the main problem � the fact that Johjima doesn't speak English.

"If he's here, we wouldn't regard it any different than the situation with Latin guys," he said. "He'd have to pick up some English and even some Spanish. But we're talking about enough to get the next hitter out, not to split the atom."

With Johjima coming in as the front-line receiver, sources say Seattle is prepared to trade Yorvit Torrealba, the catcher who played most of the games in the second half of the 2005 season after coming here from San Francisco in a midseason trade.

Johjima's team in Japan, Fukuoka Soft-Bank Hawks, reportedly had offered him a one-year deal of $10 million to stay.

He will make his decision public on Tuesday in Japan. At Fukuoka's breakup meeting before the offseason, a tradition for Japanese teams, Johjima will tell Hawks' manager Sadahura Oh that he will play in this country.

[Theoldmole]

When did he get the H in his name?

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I think that the silent H's are dropped to "Englishize" some of those names.

Shinjo's uniforms in Japan identified him as "SHINJHO"

[Guest Edgy DC]

Well, with him, it's a Y. But yeah.

[Elster88]

We're still Americanizing things in this day and age? Did Shinjo think that Americans couldn't deal with Shinjyo any more than we could deal with Kashiwada?

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I don't think the names are really being "Americanized."

Remember, the real way to write a Japanese name is with Japanese characters. Any conversion to our alphabet is a translation, and depending on the translator there can be a variety of spellings.

[Valadius]

Jojima is indeed signing with the Mariners. Three years, $15 million.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Can anyone explain to me why we'd even consider exchanging Seo or Anderson Hernandez for Lo Duca or Toby Hall?

http://www.nypost.com/sports/mets/31701.htm

Lo Duca's had one good season 5 years ago and has been the epitome of mediocre since then and at 34 isn't likely to improve. To make matters worse, he's owed a whopping $12.5M over the next two years.

Toby Hall is turning 31 and has never even sniffed a .700 OPS. He's likely going to make around $2M again next year.

I'd take Castro (~$0.5M) over either of them in a heartbeat.

[Frayed Knot]

Except that - unless they go the expensive FA route for a #1 guy like Hernandez or Molina - it would be one of those guys in addition to Castro, not instead of.

I'm not in love w/either guy either (and didn't realize that LoDuca was nearly 34 already) but Andy Handy for either guy isn't so far fetched if we were to go the trade route. -- (I think I just set a record for using the word "either" in a single sentence) -- Essentially you'd be getting a starting catcher for at least half the games in exchange for someone who's destined for utility IF work according to most estimates.
I agree about Seo.

[Guest rpackrat]

Not sure I'd do a deal for either of these guys that includes Seo or Hernandez, but LoDuca has been better than you let on. He has been an above average hitter for a catcher over the last couple of years, and is an above-average defensive catcher. While you're right that he hasn't been a real standout in a few years, he's still been good. I agree that his age is a huge concern. Players, and especially catchers, can decline very quickly past age 33 or 34. Hall is a mystery. He just turned 30 (not 31), but has never been better than average. I would not give much for him.

[Elster88]

There is the possiblility that the actual claim the newspaper makes has no basis in reality. Don't tell Healey I said that.

[Vic Sage]

MIKEJACOBSMIKEJACOBSMIKEJACOBSMIKEJACOBS!

hello? hello? is this thing on? hello?

[metirish]

Omar makes offers to two catchers...

] THE ASSOCIATED PRESS November 25, 2005, 2:24 PM EST Now that they have Carlos Delgado, the New York Mets are turning their attention to Bengie Molina and Ramon Hernandez. General manager Omar Minaya said Friday the team had made offers to the pair of free-agent catchers. He also refused to rule out trying to acquire Manny Ramirez from Boston, although he wouldn't go into specifics. "We will have conversations sometime this week, hopefully not this weekend," Minaya said during a telephone conference call. "It's been two Thanksgivings now that I've been working every day." With Mike Piazza leaving, the Mets have made it a priority to get a catcher, especially one with better defensive skills. Going after both Molina and Hernandez is somewhat unusual. "I was honest. I let them know I have two offers out there. They're both very good catchers," Minaya said. "We might possibly go the trade route, also." Alan Nero, Molina's agent, said no decision was imminent. "We got initial offer from them. Because of the holidays, we haven't had a chance to go over it," he said. "It's an initial offer. We're expecting offers from several other teams, and we have lot of work to do."

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-spmets1126,0,3018275.story?coll=ny-sports-headlines

[Guest ABG]

Put me in the Molina column. I've been a fan of all of those bros for a while now.