New Blue Jays C Bengie Molina, as quoted by the AP’s Rod Gilles:
“The way they let me go without a notice, without calling me, that said a lot,” the catcher said Thursday, three days after agreeing to a $5 million, one-year contract with Toronto. “That’s what really hurts me.”
Toronto, finishing a busy offseason, also agreed Thursday to a $5.8 million, one-year contract with infielder Shea Hillenbrand, who had been scheduled for a salary arbitration hearing next week.
Molina was introduced as the Blue Jays’ new catcher. His bitterness toward the Angels was clear.
“I think I built a good relationship with them,” he said. “They never let me know. They just threw me like a piece of trash.”
Molina signed with the Angels when he was 17.
“I don’t think I did one thing to disrespect them at all for all those years,” Molina said. “If anything I went out of my way for them. I even helped them get Bartolo Colon on to that club. I gave him a call. I called a couple of guys for them. And now when I needed a call, they never called me.”
If it is any consolation, the Angels don’t bother to call their fans, either.