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Originally Posted by bn2cardz
Preface this with saying I am in St. Louis.
The problem with the anti (Yadier) Molina camp is that, as with any catcher, you can't just look at offense. Molina has been the team captain since he joined the team in 2004.
Molina has is ranked 18 all time in putouts and the only active player ahead of him (Pierzynski) has 6 more years then him (the least amount of years ahead of him is 3 more seasons).
His total zone runs is ranked only second behind Ivan Rodriguez.
His caught stealing percentage leads the way buy 5.97% of the next active catcher.
He also may not have the most impressive offensive numbers, but they aren't shabby either.
This combined with the fact that he has a .328 BA in 21 World Series games he may have enough to push him over.
And he does this all as a FULL TIME catcher (Molina has the second most games as a Catcher again behind Pierzynsk), having only played 2 full games as a 1st baseman (after starting in 4 and playing in a total 32). Compare this to Posey (someone mentioned may be the best catcher) who has already started 132 games at 1B. Also Posey only has a dWAR of 5, with his best season topping out at 2 (Molina has a career dWAR of 20 with 5 seasons at 2 or higher).
Posey is a good offensive player, but I predict he will be moved to a full time 1B position to keep him playing as happens to most catchers with better offense than defense.
All this said I don't think this makes him a sure shot. I believe he needs a few more decent seasons to make it more clear that he deserves to be in the ranks of the other catcher greats, but he is certainly shown he has what it takes thus far.
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His WAR is 30.5. Maybe if it was 40+ I could see a case. 50+ as a catcher and I would have him as a lock. Mauer is at 47.5 and people are questioning him. Posey is already at 28.1 and will sail by Molina. Even a few more good years leaves him well short.
I'm not a big WAR guy, I see a lot of problems with it. However when we are comparing players at the same position, I also see it's value. More and more HOF voters are going to look at advance metrics and use them in their process. Molina is a very good player, just not HOF worthy.