Molina Ends Up With Blue Jays

Two weeks after threatening to sit out the 2006 season if he didn’t receive the salary he was seeking, former Angel catcher Bengie Molina agreed Monday to a one-year, $5-million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, a deal that includes a mutual $7.5-million option for 2007 but fell far short of what Molina was hoping for.

After hitting .295 with 15 home runs and 69 runs batted in to close out a below-market-value, five-year, $6.65-million contract with the Angels in 2005, Molina, 31, entered free agency with visions of a big payday, something in the four-year, $25-million range.

The New York Mets offered a three-year, $18-million contract in November, but when Molina and his agent, Alan Nero, hedged, the Mets acquired catcher Paul Lo Duca in a trade with the Florida Marlins and rescinded their offer to Molina.

Meanwhile, Kenji Johjima signed a three-year, $16.5-million deal with Seattle, and free-agent Ramon Hernandez signed a four-year, $27.5-million contract with Baltimore, removing two potential Molina suitors from the catching market.

“The market just went away on us. It wasn’t there,” Alan Nero, Molina’s agent, said.

The Dodgers were in negotiations with Nero through Sunday night, according to baseball sources, and ultimately offered more in a one-year contract and total package than the Blue Jays.

Molina chose the Blue Jays, according to Nero, because they offered a greater chance at a future long-term contract. The Dodgers have two catchers in their early 20’s -- Dioner Navarro and Russ Martin -- that they expect are major-league ready, or nearly so.

“In the end, the decision came down to the perceived opportunity in Toronto,” Nero said. “The opportunity was greater knowing full well [the Dodgers] have two very good catchers coming up.”

With the addition of Molina, Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti had hoped to give Navarro and Martin more time to mature.

“We were stopped short by good young players,” he said. “It’s certainly a silver lining to losing out on a very good player.”

The frustration from Molina’s winter odyssey surfaced in late January at an alumni game at Arizona Western Community College in Yuma, Ariz.

“I think I have done enough to deserve something,” Molina told the Yuma Sun. “If I don’t get that type of deal, I think I’m willing to sit out and see what happens next year. I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

It didn’t. Molina’s signing completed a major winter overhaul of the Blue Jays, a team expected to contend for the American League East title after adding free-agent pitcher A.J. Burnett to a rotation led by Roy Halladay, closer B.J. Ryan, third baseman Troy Glaus and first baseman Lyle Overbay.

Molina, whose 2005 catcher’s earned-run average of 3.55 was the third-best in the major leagues, will push Gregg Zaun to a backup role, but his addition gives Toronto one of the best catching tandems in baseball.

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Times staff writer Tim Brown contributed to this report.