It's really the passed balls that people have been complaining about though, isn't it? Ignoring the two Boston catchers who had Wakefield to catch, Molina is tied for the second most PB in the majors. He also lead the majors last year, with 10. That's not good, and it's a noticeable problem to the average fan. Passed balls just look terrible. It's the kind of thing the average fan looks at and says ,"I could have at least caught it, #@$!~!".  Since he's not throwing people out, and he's gumming up the basepaths sometimes, it's a good thing he's hitting well.

Wild Pitches, by definition, are the pitchers fault. In the long run, Molina's tendency to one-hand block, rather than actually blocking the ball, would seem likely to keep these high as well. Unless there was an effect on the quality of pitches the pitchers are willing to throw. If Lilly is thinking "Don't snap one off short, Molina won't stop it", that keeps the wild pitches down, but the ERA up. Zaun's Catcher ERA this year is half a run lower (although I suspect that's mostly/all in the "Towers factor").  My point? Not sure really...I guess play Zaun more?

While the numbers may tell the opposite, the difference between Zaun and Molina blocking are night and day. Zaun gets down and deadens the ball with his chest, while Molina lazily backhands the ball. Maybe he's developed a skill at backhanding baseballs but it's little league, lazy, and unprofessional.

There also appears to be no improvement or any sign that the coaching staff is attempting to change this. Gibbons was a catcher in his youth and does serve as the catching instructor along with his other duties.

 

It's really the passed balls that people have been complaining about though, isn't it?

I'm not sure, but the distinction between Wild Pitches and Passed Balls is pretty artificial anyway. In practise, the official scorer always calls it a Wild Pitch if it hits the ground before it reaches the catcher, and a Passed Ball if it does not. What this means is that a Passed Ball is usually caused by the catcher getting crossed up - the pitcher throwing a fastball when the catcher is set up for a breaking ball.