Bengie Molina traded to Rangers

At left: Bengie Molina has been traded to the Texas Rangers.

Bengie Molina was traded from the Giants to the Texas Rangers (47-30) last night for relief pitcher Chris Ray. It's a really, really sad thing for me to have to see. Molina is one of my favorite Giants players of all-time because he had all the intangibles that make someone a great player and a winning player. He was a great catcher and a good hitter with some pop in his bat, but also a really good teammate. He genuinely seemed to care for his teammates as well as his family and friends and had a sincere desire to win.

He was also a very clutch hitter and was someone I always liked having at the plate in crunch time. I particularly remember a game late in the season last year at AT&T Park against the Arizona Diamondbacks that the Giants absolutely had to have in order to stay in the pennant race. The Diamondbacks led by two in the bottom of the 8th inning with two outs and two runners on for the Giants. Bengie, nursing a sore calf, muscled out a three-run home run to left field. It was one of those very cool baseball moments that I may never forget. He got a curtain call with the crowd chanting "Bengie, Bengie" and it was just awesome. I'm glad I got to see him hit a home run in person during my visit to San Francisco this year. I'm really going to miss having him on the team.

Buster Posey looks like he will be taking over as catcher. I really like Posey and think he is already a good player that will only be getting better. He's a good hitter and I hope he'll be good behind the plate too. I think he'll fill that spot in the lineup well. But that doesn't change that I'm really going to miss Bengie and wish that he would have been able to stick around for at least the rest of the season. Based on his comments, Bengie seems a little upset about being traded and I could really tell that he loves this Giants team and his teammates. I wish him well with the Rangers and think they are fortunate to be getting such a good guy on their team.