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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Rays reportedly eying C Jose Molina

Posted Nov 17, 2011 by Roger Mooney

Updated Nov 17, 2011 at 10:10 PM

ROGER MOONEY

Jon Paul Morosi of Foxsports.com is reporting the Rays are nearing a deal with free agent catcher Jose Molina, a deal that would make a lot of sense for the Rays.

Molina, 36, (career statistics http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/molinjo01.shtml) has never been a full-time catcher at the big league-level so joining a platoon wouldn’t appear to be a problem.

He will likely be inexpensive since he made $1.2 million with the Blue Jays last season.

Molina has been a member of two World Series-winning teams – the 2002 Angels and the 2009 Yankees – so he knows what is involved in playing for a team with designs on reaching the postseason. Rays manager Joe Maddon has always been a fan of Molina from their days together with the Angels.

He would be an upgrade defensively. He controls the running game well, throwing out 40 percent of would-be base stealers over his career, and controlling the running game is a must for Rays catchers.

The Rays declined the $3.2 million option on Kelly Shoppach after the 2011 season, leaving them with John Jaso, Jose Lobaton and Robinson Chirinos as the likely candidates for the 2012 season.

The Rays would like to upgrade the offensive production behind the plate but defense is still the No. 1 job requirement.

Jaso took a step back defensively last season, while Chirinos wasn’t ready for the life in the major leagues during his stint with the big club.

The Rays are high on Lobaton, but a sprained knee robbed him of valuable playing time during the second half of last season, so the Rays are not quite sure of what Lobaton can do at the major league level.