Doumit vs. Paulino

[BigTex24]

Molina or Doumit?

[zoolander12]

I just dropped B. Molina for Doumit, I have several reasons for it.

1: I think Molina will not really improve on his stats from last year, now those stats you can find on the waiver everyday from catchers like Napoli, Snyder, Doumit, etc. People who drafted top 5 catchers will probably never pick up another catcher to sit on their bench, so in a 12 team league, 7 owners will be paying attention to the waiver/FA pool. There are 8 or 9 catchers that are statistically indifferent from one another, so you can drop without too many worries, and just go with whoever is hot at the time.

2: I like Doumit because he will not do worse than Molina at the least, but he has much more upside, and he may play outfield for the pirates, which instantly makes him much better (if happens). Outfielders who hit well, and have catcher eligibility, I think should be very coveted.

3: I am from Pittsburgh, and it does not hurt that he plays for home town. Pirates fans and sports writers hate Paulino, he just doesn't try very hard, does not play with much passion. I think management shares that sentiment. They are looking for reasons to not start him. Take today for example, in the game vs. chicago cubs, april 7th, Doumit was replaced by a pinch runner, Paulino showed up as catcher, with the scores tied in the 10th inning, he let Theriot steal second, then Ward singles, Theriot to 3rd, Pie pinch runs for Ward, Paulino let Pie steal to 2nd. In 12th inning, with the scores still tied, Paulino let Theriot steal 2nd AGAIN, then (this is important) Aramis Ramirez (who played for pirates before) sac flies to score Theriot... game is out of hand at this point.

No one likes Paulino.

[chipper]

I agree Paulino is in the doghouse. Like I mentioned, why else would they sit him against a pitcher he was 6 for 8 against? But Molina is a pretty safe option. He's the 4th hitter for his team and has no competition, so not sure I'd be quick to take Doumit over him. Doumit's always been fairly fragile too.
That said, I do own Doumit in 2 of my leagues, but I make sure to have good backups for him.

[jdsun1]

I agree Paulino is in the doghouse. Like I mentioned, why else would they sit him against a pitcher he was 6 for 8 against? But Molina is a pretty safe option. He's the 4th hitter for his team and has no competition, so not sure I'd be quick to take Doumit over him. Doumit's always been fairly fragile too.
That said, I do own Doumit in 2 of my leagues, but I make sure to have good backups for him.

Doumit is the obvious choice here especially in H2H leagues as he will get plenty ABs and has more upside than Molina. ALso given the fact he has been hitting cleanup(in a much better lineup) and producing. A potential Jason Bay trade at some point would only make his value higher as he would be an everyday player and not get the occasional day off for Paulino to start. Lastly he was on fire last year before getting hurt and has shown that he can hit. As long as he is healthy he is a lock to be a top 10 catcher and outproduce Molina.

[mak1277]

Couple things from someone who religiously follows the Pirates:

1) Doumit is the starting catcher. This is quite obviously not a straight platoon, with Doumit now starting against 2 lefties already this year (vs. Lilly and on opening day against Glavine). Paulino's defense (his supposed advantage over Doumit) is freaking terrible.

2) Doumit is NOT going to play the OF this year. First of all, the team is only carrying 2 catchers, so there is very little chance in my mind that they would ever start Paulino at C and Doumit in the OF. Second, if Bay isn't starting in LF, they are likely going to play McLouth there and start Morgan in CF. If Nady or Bay get traded, Steve Pearce is the most likely replacement for the corner OF spot, not Doumit.

All in all, Doumit is a great guy to have starting at C, but I don't know if I'd take him over Bengie Molina. There is still a substantial injury risk associated with Doumit.