Pirates acquire Jaff Decker from Padres, designate Garrett Jones for assignment

By Aaron GleemanNov 25, 2013, 1:20 PM EDT
12 Comments

Garrett Jones, who was a regular for the Pirates for four-plus seasons before losing his job to Justin Morneau down the stretch, has been designated for assignment.

Jones made $4.5 million this year and hit just .233 with 15 homers and a .708 OPS in 144 games, so at age 32 and with a similar salary due for 2014 via the arbitration process he was a likely non-tender candidate anyway.

With a .774 career OPS he should have no problem finding another gig, although it may involve a part-time/platoon role and will almost surely involve a cut in pay.

Pittsburgh needed Jones’ 40-man roster spot after acquiring outfielder Jaff Decker from the Padres. Decker’s prospect stock has plummeted in recent years, but he hit reasonably well at Triple-A as a 23-year-old and has always had excellent on-base percentage.

Yadier Molina ties record for the most games caught with one team

Getty Images
By Craig CalcaterraJun 18, 2018, 8:30 AM EDT
3 Comments

Yadier Molina has two World Series rings, multiple Gold Gloves, Platinum Gloves, All-Star appearances and a Silver Slugger award. He now has an all-time record too.

The record: the most games caught with one team. Last night he caught his 1756th career game with the Cardinals, with ties him with Gabby Hartnett of the Cubs, who last caught in 1941 and set the record in 1940, his last season with Chicago. Molina will break the record next time he dons the tools of ignorance, likely tonight against the Phillies.

Given how badly catchers get beaten up — and Molina has taken a beating at times in his career — and given how well mastery of the position leads to a catcher earning journeyman status, as it were, it’s quite a thing to catch that many games for one team.

Given that Molina is under contract with the Cardinals for two more seasons and has stated his desire to retire a Cardinal many times, he’s likely to put that record so far out of reach that it’ll likely take at least another 78 years to break it, if indeed it is ever broken.