According to the Detroit Free Press, the Tigers will have a press conference at 1 PM EST to announce the signing of Pudge Rodriguez.
The signing will help the team. I-Rod posted 23 win shares last year vs. 6 for Inge and Hinch. That should add six games to the win column. The Tigers are paying a lot of money for Ivan, but they need to do something to get the fans back, and Ivan is fun to watch. He’s not going to make them a contender over night, and he may be gone by the time the Tigers are rebuilt. But I sure love to see him throw out runners, and I hope Tiger fans will too.
Great signing for Detroit. Not necessarily a bad one for Pudge, either. I know it’s easy to say that he’s stupid for taking the money over a spot on a less embarrassing roster, but the truth is there are some potential positives for him with the Tigers. With a minor apology to Dmitri Young, in Detroit Pudge’ll be the uncontested star, the reason fans come to the park. If the Tigers win a few more games than they’re expected to, he’ll likely get the credit — unlike in Florida, where a promising but probably overrated pitching staff stole his thunder. Maybe he liked working with the young Marlins players, too, and values the role of veteran.
It might have been nice to see him as a complement to a good team, someone who elevates them to greatness and a championship. Thing is, he just did that. Maybe he needs a new challenge; I can’t think of a bigger one than turning around the Tigers.
You can try all you want to spin it, but this signing is all about the money, period. Pudge decided that he was not going to sign for less than $10M a year for multiple years, and the Tigers were the only team willing to pony up.
I’m not cricizing Pudge. Everybody has the right to set their own priorities in life. But you are kidding yourself if you think he signed for the “challenge.”
I don’t think its a much about the money as it is the length of the deal. Where else would he have gotten 4 years?? Its possible he’s sick of looking for a new job every winter.
My prediction is if – and that’s IMHO a very big if – he stays even for 2 years in Detroit, this will look like an A-Rod type of signing. He’ll never achieve what he did last year. Consider the ballpark. Consider the climate. He’s never played in conditions like what Detroit offers.
But, all this probably doesn’t matter. Many believe he’ll be back with the Marlins shortly.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=neyer_rob&id=1725433&CMP=OTC-DT9705204233