Pudge to Yankees (For Farnsworth)

true that.. idk what we are thinking..

NYyankees wrote:

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

Lets Rabble!

RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE (south park...)

Hi NYyankees

sucks for Molina.... back to old times he goes....

we should have came up with a trade for Wilson Betemit the GREAT instead....

sup Catbox and Elvis

LMAOOO i don't think anybody would want him..well we never know..astros got hawkins.

haha elvis..been like a freaking long time since ive been called that.

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

LMAOOO i don't think anybody would want him..well we never know..astros got hawkins.

never knew astros got hawkins....... but if that's true then i'd say SOMEBODY would take betemit

yeah... maybe the Padres or some other last place NL team.

NYyankees wrote:

sup Catbox and Elvis

Not much here. Playing any Nintendo lately?

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

haha elvis..been like a freaking long time since ive been called that.

lol..... I will always refer to you as Elvis

NYyankees wrote:

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

haha elvis..been like a freaking long time since ive been called that.

lol..... I will always refer to you as Elvis

You aren't a Yankee anymore!

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

yeah... maybe the Padres or some other last place NL team.

id hope so....

haha well that is cools and i shall call you mike still

anyways whats new?

NYyankees wrote:

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

yeah... maybe the Padres or some other last place NL team.

id hope so....

If not..give the word and he "dissapers" lol

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

haha elvis..been like a freaking long time since ive been called that.

lol..... I will always refer to you as Elvis

You aren't a Yankee anymore!

we bleed yankee blue

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

sup Catbox and Elvis

Not much here. Playing any Nintendo lately?

Not really.... hooked on cod 3..... not 4 .... but 3 (xbox live...)

I probably haven't played Nintendo since we talked about it actually long ago...

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

haha elvis..been like a freaking long time since ive been called that.

lol..... I will always refer to you as Elvis

You aren't a Yankee anymore!

we bleed yankee blue

hellll yeah

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

haha elvis..been like a freaking long time since ive been called that.

lol..... I will always refer to you as Elvis

You aren't a Yankee anymore!

we bleed yankee blue

He looks like an Oneonta Tiger to me.

NYyankees wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

sup Catbox and Elvis

Not much here. Playing any Nintendo lately?

Not really.... hooked on cod 3..... not 4 .... but 3 (xbox live...)

I probably haven't played Nintendo since we talked about it actually long ago...

I haven't played much either. Stupid school

We got a Wii though. That's kind of fun.

catbox_9 wrote:

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

haha elvis..been like a freaking long time since ive been called that.

lol..... I will always refer to you as Elvis

You aren't a Yankee anymore!

we bleed yankee blue

He looks like an Oneonta Tiger to me.

ya know what this means then? SABOTAGE!!! lol

NYyankees wrote:

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

haha elvis..been like a freaking long time since ive been called that.

lol..... I will always refer to you as Elvis

You aren't a Yankee anymore!

we bleed yankee blue

hellll yeah

we gotta stop losing to them weak teams though

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

sup Catbox and Elvis

Not much here. Playing any Nintendo lately?

Not really.... hooked on cod 3..... not 4 .... but 3 (xbox live...)

I probably haven't played Nintendo since we talked about it actually long ago...

I haven't played much either. Stupid school

We got a Wii though. That's kind of fun.

cool... the wii looks like a lot fun...

NYyankees wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

sup Catbox and Elvis

Not much here. Playing any Nintendo lately?

Not really.... hooked on cod 3..... not 4 .... but 3 (xbox live...)

I probably haven't played Nintendo since we talked about it actually long ago...

I haven't played much either. Stupid school

We got a Wii though. That's kind of fun.

cool... the wii looks like a lot fun...

My mom is obsessed with it :haha: She keeps buying games for it

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

Sir Paul McCartney wrote:

haha elvis..been like a freaking long time since ive been called that.

lol..... I will always refer to you as Elvis

You aren't a Yankee anymore!

we bleed yankee blue

hellll yeah

we gotta stop losing to them weak teams though

yeah..... except for some reason it seems like we struggle a lot vs. the o's (even last season I believe....?)

yeah and the year before that.

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

NYyankees wrote:

sup Catbox and Elvis

Not much here. Playing any Nintendo lately?

Not really.... hooked on cod 3..... not 4 .... but 3 (xbox live...)

I probably haven't played Nintendo since we talked about it actually long ago...

I haven't played much either. Stupid school

We got a Wii though. That's kind of fun.

cool... the wii looks like a lot fun...

My mom is obsessed with it :haha: She keeps buying games for it

lol

I still don't get how the rays got so good..... well they never did have a bad team last season..... they just had a few bad things here and there....... I haven't really checked out their pitching staff/ talent on their field......

They are on a magical trip thats gonna end in sept.

TrammMan wrote:

Greatest FUCKING trade ever. Finally got rid of that piece of shit. Maybe things will turn around without having that crybaby swing at balls in the in the dirt 10 feet away and then hitting his bat like its the bats fault.

austin

Just go away-now is not the time!!!!!!!!

07/30/2008 9:00 PM ET
Tigers deal Pudge for Farnsworth
Detroit fills hole in 'pen with Inge ready to be everyday catcher
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

CLEVELAND -- Ivan Rodriguez will go down in history as the player who helped turn the Tigers into a winning franchise again. On Wednesday, the Tigers decided that their best shot at winning this year was to trade him.

In a move that ended an era in Detroit, the Tigers sent the future Hall of Fame catcher to the Yankees for reliever Kyle Farnsworth. It was a deal with fittingly mixed emotions for a club that has been creeping towards the deadline as a potential buyer or seller. And though the Tigers bought the relief help they wanted, they had a keen appreciation for what they gave up.

"As I told him, I will be in Cooperstown the day he's inducted," president/general manager Dave Dombrowski said. "But it's also a situation for us where with Brandon Inge, we think he's ready to be our everyday catcher. Our plans were to make him our everyday catcher going into the future. He's ready for it. So it's a position where for us, we have somebody we think can step up and do that, and we also helped our bullpen, which we think is an area we needed to address."

From initial talks to fruition, Dombrowski said, the entire deal came together on Wednesday, starting with a call in the morning to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. They had talked a few times over the past couple weeks, but Dombrowski characterized those talks as more informational, giving each other an idea of what their needs were.

Cashman told reporters in New York that Dombrowski floated the idea of trading Rodriguez. Once they got into specifics, the negotiations came together early in the afternoon. Soon after the clubhouse opened to reporters around 3:30 p.m. ET, little more than 24 hours before Thursday's non-waiver trade deadline, Rodriguez was talking with Dombrowski and assistant GM Al Avila in manager Jim Leyland's office. Since he has a no-trade clause, Rodriguez needed to give his approval.

"They just told me what the team was thinking," Rodriguez said. "I'm not going to say it, but that's personal between me and Dombrowski. But it's time for me to take the trade and go somewhere else."

And with that, Rodriguez started saying his goodbyes. And many Tigers, including the manager, were caught by surprise, despite having an idea that Rodriguez probably wouldn't be re-signed at season's end.

"This is something that I've got to sit back," Leyland said, "because I think that everybody has this vision that they knew what was going on, that they were working on this. I'm telling you, this was a [surprise] phone call. It was 3:30 [p.m.], and I was in my car with two coaches when Dave called me, and that is the absolutely first [time] I'd heard about it, that it was a possibility."

That said, he knew that Rodriguez's days as the Tigers' catcher were numbered. This deal accelerated the process. Essentially, it was a 1-for-1 swap of pending free agents that immediately fills urgent needs for two teams trying to make a late charge into the playoffs. That swap includes what's left of the salaries; Farnsworth is making $5.5 million this year.

Inge's development as a catching option for the Tigers was a major reason cited by Dombrowski and Leyland in making the deal. Though Rodriguez had rebounded from his slow start to go on a summer tear, batting .381 over his last 31 games, it wasn't going to change the Tigers' outlook. Rodriguez is making $13 million this season in the final year of his contract, while Inge is under contract for two more years at a total of about $13 million, a deal he signed two years ago when he was Detroit's everyday third baseman.

"Pudge has done a fine job, there's no question," Dombrowski said. "But when you look at the depth of our ballclub, we like Brandon Inge a great deal. We think he's an everyday catcher at this point. He's ready to tackle that. We think he gives us a quality chance to win on a day-in, day-out basis. And we also were able to address the one area of our club that we think should be addressed the most, which is our bullpen."

They addressed it with a familiar face. Farnsworth was a key member of the Tigers' bullpen in 2005, starting the year as the setup man and transitioning to closer when Troy Percival suffered a season-ending muscle tear in his arm.

Armed with a fastball that then approached 100 mph, Farnsworth went 1-1 with a 2.32 ERA in 46 games for Detroit, including six saves in eight chances. He was effective enough that the Tigers approached him about a long-term deal. Once Farnsworth and his agent made it clear that he would test free agency at season's end, the Tigers dealt him to Atlanta at the July 31 deadline for two pitchers, including current Tigers starter Zach Miner.

Farnsworth signed a three-year, $17 million contract that winter to work as Mariano Rivera's setup man with the Yankees, and he's been there since.

"It's always hard, no matter what," said an emotional Farnsworth. "It's just one of those things you have to deal with. You can't change it or do anything about it. You just keep going and keep on playing."

Leyland had very little idea yet how he would use Farnsworth, who is expected to join the team for Friday's series opener at Tampa Bay. He'll work into what is now looking like a bullpen by committee with Fernando Rodney as closer on most days, but Todd Jones and Joel Zumaya mixed in during the late innings. All three have had their issues -- Jones with a recent stretch of struggles, Rodney with control issues, and Zumaya with his shoulder surgery last fall.

"Let's put it this way," Leyland said of Farnsworth, "he won't be a long man."

Whatever role he fills, the Tigers are viewing him as a major part of what they hope is a stretch run. It was a big enough issue to deal a future Hall of Famer.

"I don't think, with due respect to everybody, that catching Pudge or catching Brandon Inge will be the decisive factor whether we win this year or not," Leyland said. "I think the bullpen could be."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.