Pudge to Yankees (For Farnsworth)

Farnsworth Sucks

What's funny is that as bad as Inge sucks he and Rodriguez have an identical OPS+ (101) entering play today.

July 30	Player to Yankees	Player to Tigers
	C Ivan Rodriguez	RHP Kyle Farnsworth
	The Deal: In need of a starting catcher since Jorge Posada decided to undergo season-ending surgery on his throwing shoulder, the Yankees pick up a 13-time Gold Glover and 14-time All-Star to work behind the plate the rest of the season. The Yankees' setup job had been increasingly filled by Jose Veras, and the addition of Damaso Marte gave them two pitchers to fill the role, making Farnsworth expendable. The right-hander, who was with the Tigers in 2005, will join a beleaguered Detroit bullpen.

:haha: that picture looks kind of funny.

Our roster shows no catchers... click on pudge and it takes you to Yankees!

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

Our roster shows no catchers... click on pudge and it takes you to Yankees!

We're going to get a lot of wild pitches without a catcher. Teams will probably steal quite often if we don't use one.

DD says "New York is in contention."

I think he has given up on the Tigers.
I'm waiting for another shoe to drop.

gs78 wrote:

Glad I didn't buy a Pudge Jersey


Bet they on sale

i did oh well.....

Pudge traded for Farnsworth
From: The Detroit Tiger Weblog
July 30th, 2008

Pudge Rodriguez for Kyle Farnsworth? My first reaction was, and who else did the Tigers get? Rodriguez is having a fine season, and there are teams that are really looking for catching help. Besides the Yankees, the Marlins had also inquired and were turned away. In other words it was kind of a sellers market for the Tigers. If he was going to get moved I anticipated it would be for prospects, or something better than the 2 draft picks they would have secured had Pudge declined arbitration. When the return was a non-elite relief pitcher I actually felt ill. After a few moments of reflection though I feel a little less queasy.

Brandon Inge becomes the full time catcher now and he has an of .758 this season (I was actually surprised to see it was that high). Meanwhile Pudge carries a .755 OPS, but with a .295 average. On a starter perspective it’s surprisingly a push. Of course catching depth has been obliterated and there is a huge drop off when the back-up - presumably Dane Sardinha - enters the game. There’s also the issue of whether or not Inge can hit while catching.

As for Farnsworth the Tigers needed bullpen help and he’s having a nice season with a 8.73 K/9, a 3.45 BB/9 (still not that great). But the guy has allowed 11 HOME RUNS THIS YEAR. His 3.65 ERA is buoyed by a 94% LOB rate - far higher than at anytime in his career.

In terms of the other elements of the trade, both players are free agents at the end of the year. Pudge Rodriguez was going to be a Type A free agent meaning he’d bring back 2 draft picks. Farnsworth was a Type B last year, and would likely be one again this year meaning they’ll get 1 draft pick. So they give up a draft pick in this deal presuming both players were to get offered arbitration and declined. The Tigers save a couple million in the process as Pudge was out earning Farnsworth by about $7 million this year.

Farnsworth kind of fills a need, but not that well. The Tigers don’t take a huge hit in terms of production and aren’t giving up on the season. But my issue is that I think the Tigers could have done better for Pudge. He’s having a good year at a hard to fill position. Factor in the loss of a draft pick and it’s not good. No young player coming back? Not awful, but Dave Dombrowski failed to maximize Pudge’s value. Yankees win this one easy.

mrsrabelo wrote:

next is going to be Magglio

That's the shoe.

Tigers trade Pudge to Yankees for Farnsworth

BY JOHN LOWE AND JON PAUL MOROSI • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITERS • July 30, 2008

CLEVELAND - The Tigers today traded catcher Ivan Rodriguez straight up to the New York Yankees for relief pitcher Kyle Farnsworth.

Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski portrayed three causes for the deal. First off, Rodriguez can be a free agent after this season.

Secondly, the club believes Brandon Inge is ready to succeed Rodriguez as the No. 1 catcher for the rest of this season. "Brandon Inge is ready to tackle being the everyday catcher. He gives us a quality chance to win on a day-in, day-out basis and this allows us to address the one area of our club that needs to be addressed the most, which is our bullpen, ” Dombrowski explained. He also said Inge will be the No. 1 catcher next season.

Lastly, the Tigers need bullpen help. "Our major focus was our bullpen," said Dombrowski. Todd Jones has been replaced at closer by Fernando Rodney, but neither Rodney nor Joel Zumaya, who were injured much of the year, are as durable right now as the Tigers hope they will be. Rodney has struggled with his control in both of his outings since he replaced Jones at closer.

He stressed that the deal doesn't in any way represent a retreat from the Tigers' playoff aspirations for this season. He said he believes the trade makes the club stronger now.

The Yankees need a catcher because their first-string catcher, Jorge Posada, had season-ending shoulder surgery on Wednesday. The rehab time is about six months.

Rodriguez signed with the Tigers in the off-season after they lost 119 games in 2003. In that season, Rodriguez was the catcher for the world champion Florida Marlins.

“I want to make special note of everything Pudge has done for our organization,” Dombrowski said. “He helped us in the very beginning. I told him, I will be in Cooperstown the day he is inducted (in the Hall of Fame).”

After his 4-for-4 performance on Sunday, he had the best offensive numbers of any prospective free-agent catcher. He is hitting .295 with five homers in 82 games this season. Among all catchers with at least 290 at-bats, Rodriguez ranks fifth in on-base-plus-slugging percentage, with .759. The four catchers ahead of him this year are All-Stars Brian McCann, Joe Mauer, Geovany Soto and Russell Martin.

Farnsworth, like Rodriguez, can be a free agent after this season. He pitched for the Tigers in 2005. At the trading deadline that year, the Tigers traded him to Atlanta for pitchers Zach Miner (now a Tigers starter) and Roman Colon (since dealt to Kansas City). The Tigers made the deal after Farnsworth, also a pending free agent that season, turned down a multi-year contract offer from them.

This season, Farnsworth is 1-2 in 45 appearances. His statistic that would raise the most concern is homers allowed: 11 in 44 1/3 innings.

“He has been throwing well lately, between 94 and 98 mph,” Dombrowski said.

With Thursday’s 4 p.m. trading deadline about 24 hours away, Dombrowski said, “I’ve talked to a dozen clubs today. I don’t think I’m close on anything. You never know when things take place this time of year. This one (the Rodriguez trade) came out of the blue. This deal all really happened today."

Dombrowski said the club hadn’t held any contract discussions with Rodriguez about next season.

In a related development, Dane Sardinha was called up from Triple-A Toledo to be the No. 2 catcher behind Inge.

On the plus side



Inge gets to Catch everyday


GO BRANDON! GO BRANDON!

Inge gonna hit over 300 the rest of this season

gs78 wrote:

Inge gonna hit over 300 the rest of this season

:haha:

Or did you mean he's going to hit (bat) 300 more times?

o-m-g

I miss him so much already

didnt i predicted this last year? well i was joking lol but wow..

Farnsworth is having a good year this year.. i miss farnsworth

Yeah, i think I was more like

oh please mccartney...you didn't want him!

Yes i do lol farnsworth rocks and was actually one of my fav players

I mean the team as a whole...Farnsworth even said so!

Gonna miss you, Ivan...



You signed when tigs sucked....

Your work ethic got a lot of players off their butts........

You made being a Tiger respectable again.

muchas gracias...vaya con Dios....

Farnsworth is gonna rock if y'all know how to use him from the pen.

we've had him once before~we traded him away!

well he is good right now.. lol

laprimamirala wrote:

we've had him once before~we traded him away!

For

Farnsworth just started being a 'true' Yankee and now HE GETS TRADED for pudge!!!!!! What the !

Lets Rabble!

RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE (south park...)