Ivan Rodriguez is working out daily to keep his 40-year-old body in shape, hoping he’ll get a chance to play this season.
The 14-time All-Star and 13-time Gold Glove catcher insists he’s not ready to retire - yet.
“I can still play,’’ Rodriguez said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Monday from his home in Miami. “But it has been a tough market for veterans.
“There are a lot of guys who have won championships and have playoff experience to offer teams with no jobs. It’s hard to believe.’‘
Rodriguez, Roy Oswalt, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Vladimir Guerrero, Magglio Ordonez and Jason Varitek are among the big names available.
...He has 2,844 career hits - another record for a catcher - and said being in the 3,000-hit club is “absolutely’’ important to him, saying the milestone motivates him to work out harder.
“Of course, I would love to get 3,000 hits and win another World Series before I hang up my spikes and glove,’’ said Rodriguez, who helped the Marlins win it all in 2003. “But I am not a person to just follow numbers. I just want to go to the ballpark every day to help a team win and to work with a pitching staff.’‘
Repoz
Posted: February 21, 2012 at 12:05 AM |
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1. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: February 21, 2012 at 12:41 AM (#4065255)Rodriguez was also teammates with 23 year old Wilson Ramos.
If you figure Pudge to hit .200, he needs 780 ABs. If you assume his career walk rate, that means something like 840 PA.
The average backup catcher picks up around 200 PAs, so that won't do it for Pudge. He needs a starting job.
The good news for Pudge is that there were plenty of teams with horrible starters in 2011: Houston, Pirates, Twins, Mariners, Angels, etc. The bad news is that none of those teams seem to want him.
So, let's throw that out and assume that he gets a backup job. Let's further assume that he finds new life and averages .300 as a backup. Can he get there? Probably not in 2 years. He needs to get 520 PA.
Sorry Pudge. Pretty unlikely you get to 3,000 at this point unless the Twins want to sign up for more veteran leadership (Drew Butera is really bad!)
Edit: Just realized I was forgetting Mauer. Well, best case scenario for Pudge is that he signs with the Twins, does a weird platoon with Mauer and picks up 300 ABs a year and hits .275 for two years.
C Ivan Rodriguez
1B Derrek Lee
2B Aaron Miles
3B Eric Chavez
SS Miguel Tejada
LF Hideki Matsui
CF Johnny Damon
RF Vladimir Guerrero
DH Magglio Ordonez
C Jason Varitek
IF Edgar Renteria
OF Milton Bradley
OF Pat Burrell
SP Roy Oswalt
SP Javier Vazquez
SP Rich Harden
SP Doug Davis
SP Scott Kazmir
SP/RP Tim Wakefield
RP Jason Isringhausen
RP Taylor Buchholz
RP Arthur Rhodes
RP Mike Gonzalez
RP Ramon Ortiz
RP John Grabow
Probably should swap out one of the outfielders for an infielder, but nobody's really jumping out at me... Julio Lugo, maybe?
(Is Harden already injured?)
Pudge must have gotten into and out of a crouch something close to one million times.
I blew out my knee just doing the math.
Yes. He is not pitching this year.
All of those teams have already replaced their 2011 catchers, I think, except for the Mariners. Houston: Chris Snyder, Pittsburgh: Rod Barajas, Minnesota: healthy Joe Mauer / Ryan Doumit, Anaheim: Chris Iannetta. Seattle still has Miguel Olivo, I think.
Most of those guys aren't very good, but I'd rather have them starting for me than Ivan Rodriguez, who is truly terrible these days.
They still have Olivo, but they also traded for John Jaso and Jesus Montero.
I-Rod caught Nolan Ryan, who also pitched to Willie Mays, who batted against Dutch Leonard the Knuckler, who in his first MLB start faced Waite Hoyt, who pitched 12 innings of one-run ball to win his first MLB start, defeating the Tigers and Ty Cobb.
Bless you, Sean Forman.
So become a coach.
Which Pudge?
The great catchers before WW2, Dickey, Cochrane, and Hartnett, didn't last nearly as long as the guys above. I should at least mention guys like Roger Bresnahan, who's in the HOF for more than inventing shinguards. His 126 OPS+ is the same as Johnny Bench's (in many fewer PA of course) and when he retired he had more career WAR than any catcher up to that point. Plus Charlie Bennett, who was a good hitter (118 OPS+) playing under the abusive catching conditions of the 1800s.
Looking beyond guys who played in the majors, it seems obvious to me that Josh Gibson was the greatest catcher who ever lived. And probably the greatest who ever will live, since uber-prospects at the position are likely to move off the position before they even get to the big leagues, as Bryce Harper has done.
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