The Giants have been tentative about naming Posey the starting catcher for 2010 and all signs point to the team bringing in a veteran catcher or bringing back Bengie Molina to help ease Buster into a starting role. Bringing back Molina would probably be one of the worst things for Buster’s development and the Giants’ wallet. If the Giant chose to offer arbitration to Molina, there’s a chance he could accept and get a 1-year paycheck around the $6M he earned in ’09. There’s also some questions about Molina and how happy he would be in a back-up / mentor role. In addition, I just can’t imagine Bruce Bochy sitting down Molina for Buster Posey.

Thus, the Giants are looking for a catcher with the following requirements:

• Has veteran experience. Someone who’s been in the league for more than a few years and has experience working with and catching all sorts of pitchers.
• Has good defense or perceived good defense. For this reason, and this reason alone, Eli Whiteside appeared in 47 games with the Giants.
• Bonus: Can hit a little.

Enter Gregg Zaun.

The Rays, however, did not pick up the options for LHP reliever Brian Shouse ($2 million) and backup C Gregg Zaun ($2 milion).

Gregg Zaun is now a free agent after the Rays declined his option. The Rays chose to pay Zaun $500K instead of picking up his $2M option and bringing him back for the 2010 season. The Rays’ loss could be the Giants gain. Gregg Zaun fits the ideal mold for veteran catcher.

• The price is right. Zaun would only cost the Giants $2-3M as compared to potentially $6M (or more) for someone like Bengie Molina. It doesn’t sound like a huge amount of money, but it’s $2-3M more that the Giants could spend on a more deserving free agent.
• Zaun’s defensive profile is solid. According to this informative post on catcher’s defense, Zaun was an average defender in 2009. Even if you want to factor in aging, he’ll be 38-years-old in 2010, Zaun should rate within 2-3 runs of average.
• He can hit. Over the past 3 seasons Zaun has posted OBP’s of .341, .340, and .345. He owns a career OBP of .344 across 15 seasons. Looks much nicer than Molina’s .285 OBP, right? Don’t let Molina’s HR and RBI numbers fool you, Zaun is just as good of a hitter — if not better. Zaun’s last three seasons by wOBA: .324, .316, and .334. Compare that to Molina’s past three seasons: .314, .328, and .308. Zaun is a good bet to either match or better Molina on offense in 2010.

If I was a GM and had to pick between Zaun and Molina, I would take Zaun almost every single time. He’s going to be cheaper than Molina and he’s got a good chance to give you the same level of performance. If we project Zaun for 2010 he should look like the following:

Batting Wins Above Average (.320 wOBA, league wOBA .332): –0.7 wins
Defensive Wins Above Average: -.3 wins
C Positional Adjustment: +1.25 wins
Replacement Level: +2 wins
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= 2.25 wins * .50 (or about 350 PA’s for PT) = +1.13 WAR

We’ve called him a .320 wOBA hitter with -3 run defense behind the plate. All things considered in a part-time sharing role with Posey, Zaun would be worth around +1.13 wins. That makes him around a $4-5M a year player by recent spending on the FA market. Zaun should sign for around $2-3M making him a nice deal. He gives the Giants everything they like in Molina but with a much smaller commitment. Gregg Zaun makes a ton of sense for the Giants.