c/o ESPN.COM Link

 

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

 

 

By Phil Rogers

Special to ESPN.com

 

Late in his career, the Texas Rangers traded Buddy Bell for a package of unattractive players.

 

 

"Unbelievable,'' Bell said about the exchange. "It's like I've got a disease.''

 

 

Pudge Rodriguez must know the feeling.

 

 

Pudge Rodriguez batted .313 and had a .390 on-base percentage during the 2003 postseason.

 

 

For the second winter in a row, Rodriguez is languishing on a free-agent market that has rewarded many lesser players.

 

 

Miguel Tejada, arguably the fourth-best shortstop in his league, got $72 million over six years from Baltimore. Gary Sheffield, a noted knucklehead old enough to run for the U.S. Senate, signed for $39 million over three years. Even Keith Foulke, a closer whose best pitch is a changeup, got four years of love.

 

 

Yet the 32-year-old Rodriguez, who is on the short list for best catcher ever, will apparently ring in the New Year without knowing which uniform he will wear in 2004. He knows the drill, having had to wait until Jan. 22 to get his 2003 deal with Florida.

 

 

At this time last year, Jeff Moorad was the agent unsuccessfully trying to build a market for Rodriguez, whose reputation suffered because of a run of injuries that had cost him playing time three years in a row as well as guilt by association with the Rangers' horrible pitching.

 

 

But now Scott Boras guides Rodriguez's career. He has the advantage of representing Rodriguez after he gained tremendous exposure by joining Josh Beckett in carrying the Florida Marlins to an unexpected world championship.

 

 

Rodriguez was the goods in 2003, and never more than in October. So why can't he get a job?

 

 

"Good question,'' a major league executive said. "I think you'd have to look at his age, the position he plays and his price tag. You can sign Rodriguez and get a tremendous reward, like the Marlins did, but you are also taking a risk. Not too many teams take risks anymore.''

 

 

According to sources, Rodriguez turned down three years at $8 million a year both with Florida before filing for free agency and then with Baltimore, which eventually signed Javy Lopez instead. Boras was insisting on a guaranteed fourth year, which neither of those teams would offer.

 

 

Rodriguez seems a perfect fit for the Dodgers, who need hitters other than Juan Encarnacion to improve the worst lineup in the majors, but questions about the pending ownership change as well as what to do with Paul Lo Duca -- he could play first base, but could he hit enough there? -- complicate the picture.

 

 

The Cubs seek offense from their catcher and saw Rodriguez's impact firsthand during the NLCS. But they have bad memories of the last time they gave a free agent catcher a four-year deal.

 

 

Rodriguez is everything Todd Hundley is not, yet the Cubs somehow position themselves as being willing to go with a combination of Michael Barrett and Paul Bako at catcher. Barrett has gone from Montreal to Oakland to Chicago this winter, with the last move sending Damian Miller to the Athletics. He hit .208 for the Expos last year.

 

 

Given Houston's signing of Andy Pettitte, which may yet be parlayed into a 1-2 punch that includes Roger Clemens, the Cubs should be motivated to upgrade wherever possible. General manager Jim Hendry made nice moves for the Cubs with a trade for first baseman Derrek Lee and the signing of relief pitcher LaTroy Hawkins, but would be wise to avoid overconfidence. After all, the Cubs finished one game ahead of the Astros and only three ahead of St. Louis last season.

 

 

That should have them busily working on a Rodriguez deal. But they seem to want him only if he is a one- or two-year bargain.

 

 

The Players Association criticized Rodriguez when he went around Moorad to negotiate his own five-year, $42-million extension with Texas at the trading deadline in 1998. But recent events suggest Rodriguez did a better job representing himself than either Boras or Moorad, who are two of the most aggressive agents in baseball.

 

 

Rodriguez has been cursed by a series of events largely outside of his control. The first was the sale of the Rangers from George W. Bush's group to Tom Hicks, who wasn't content to maintain the success the franchise had enjoyed in the late-'90s, when it went to the playoffs three times in a four-year span. Hicks captured headlines at the 2000 winter meetings in Dallas by giving Alex Rodriguez a 10-year, $252-million deal.

 

 

He wasn't spending just his own money. He was also spending Ivan Rodriguez's future money.

 

 

The catcher had won the Gold Glove and been an All-Star every full season of his career. He was the Rangers, and he was due a contract extension. But if A-Rod was worth $25 million a year, then I-Rod was worth $20 million a year, Moorad reasoned.

 

 

There was no way the Rangers could pay him that. So it became a fait accompli that I-Rod would leave when his contract expired, if not before. It became easy to let him walk when he spent part of 2000, '01 and '02 on the disabled list, making it appear a heavy workload had taken its toll, as some had predicted.

 

 

But despite all the injuries, he still averaged 98 games behind the plate in 2000-02. He played 96 of the Rangers' last 104 games in 2002 -- Lo Duca was the only catcher to miss fewer than eight games from that point.

 

 

He was healthy in 2003, which shouldn't have come as a huge surprise given his commitment to re-establishing himself. He hit .297-16-85 while starting 134 games behind the plate, his most since 1999, when he was voted the American League's Most Valuable Player.

 

 

While Rodriguez loved hitting third for a world champion, he showcased his skills in other ways. The Marlins' first-round series against San Francisco ended with him blocking J.T. Snow off home plate after taking a throw from left fielder Jeff Conine. During the regular season, Florida's pitching staff had a 3.82 earned run average with him behind the plate and a 4.80 ERA without him.

 

"There's no question he's taken more responsibility here, and people are realizing that all around baseball," Marlins pitcher Rick Helling, who had played with Rodriguez in Texas, said during the playoffs. "He's in meetings. He's offering opinions. He's talking to players on the bench. As far as experience goes, he's our guy. He's been in the battles before, and he's really relished taking over this role."

 

 

Marlins manager Jack McKeon was also impressed.

 

 

"He picked us up,'' McKeon said. "He showed the guys how it should be done. The only way to lead by example is to do it. Everybody looks to you to do it. And he does it."

 

 

Rodriguez was 19 when he reached the big leagues in 1991. He's played 13 years and never had a bad season. He's made every team he's been on better. But instead of being rewarded for his consistency, teams seem to be waiting for him to fail.

 

 

One day they are going to be correct, of course. But it's easy to picture him in another World Series or two before that happens.

 

 

Imagine Rodriguez in a Cubs' jersey, catching Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, playing for Dusty Baker and alongside Sammy Sosa. He might just change history, a franchise's if not his own.

 

 

Phil Rogers is the national baseball writer for the Chicago Tribune, which has a Web site at www.chicagosports.com.

He's going to be waiting for a long time! :whistle

whats that some from that dude in the boyband?

During the regular season, Florida's pitching staff had a 3.82 earned run average with him behind the plate and a 4.80 ERA without him.

 

I was going to post this earlier because its an interesting stat. Hopefully Castro and Redmond work with the pitchers a lot during spring training so the drop off isnt as drastic without pudge.

Pudge better keep on waiting because he is gonna be in Teal again when May comes.

 

No team wants him, were his only shot.

Pudge had very little to do with how well our guys pitched IMO.

No team wants him, were his only shot.

not sure i agree with you there

No team wants him, were his only shot.

not sure i agree with you there Several teams would love to have Pudge. The Dodgers and Tigers have an obvious interest.

um, pudge's best offer already came and he turned it down.

 

 

 

i thought other teams were knocking down his door with those 40-50 million dollar deals.

Pudge will regret turning down the 3/24M from us if he isn't already.

Plenty of teams want him. The whole point of this story looks to me like Rogers trying to talk Cubs management into making a bid for Pudge. The problem is the same with the Marlins, the terms.

During the regular season, Florida's pitching staff had a 3.82 earned run average with him behind the plate and a 4.80 ERA without him.

 

I was going to post this earlier because its an interesting stat. Hopefully Castro and Redmond work with the pitchers a lot during spring training so the drop off isnt as drastic without pudge. that stat is completely meaningless.

 

i just looked it up. the 18 games he missed were primarily road games earlier in the season, plus the two meaningless home games against the mets at the end of the season.

 

you cant really compute a statistically meaningful ERA from only 18 games, especially when most of them are played away from friendly pro player stadium.

Pudge will regret turning down the 3/24M from us if he isn't already.

Pudge should be spending his spare timing boning up on his Japanese.

whats that some from that dude in the boyband?

ah yes...... Justin Timberlake's "Cry me a river"

During the regular season, Florida's pitching staff had a 3.82 earned run average with him behind the plate and a 4.80 ERA without him.

 

I was going to post this earlier because its an interesting stat. Hopefully Castro and Redmond work with the pitchers a lot during spring training so the drop off isnt as drastic without pudge. that stat is completely meaningless.

 

i just looked it up. the 18 games he missed were primarily road games earlier in the season, plus the two meaningless home games against the mets at the end of the season.

 

you cant really compute a statistically meaningful ERA from only 18 games, especially when most of them are played away from friendly pro player stadium. Good find alkezoid. That stat is hopefully misleading.

 

This is great to happen to Pudge. I would love to see him in Japan next year.

Greed loses here. This is a good lesson. Fudge can stay away - unless he wants $4M a year.

 

I agree with Wild Card - Fudge did not have so much to do with this staff's success as some may think. Rosenthal is the real reason things got turned around. I wonder what our staff's stats are after Arnsberg was fired in place of Rosie. This FO knows what they are doing. I feel pretty confident that Red and Castro will handle this staff well and provide solid defense.

Pudge sucks. He should come back in May for minimum wage. Enough said.

I was in rush hour this morning with two kids in the car but did anyone hear on QAM something about Pudge still wanting to play in Baltimore?

 

I checked Google news, Baltimore Sun, ESPN, etc. but there was nothing. Perhaps the announcer (not Joe Rose) misspoke, meaning Vlad not Pudge.

 

This brings me to a question I've had for some time -

 

We all know that Pudge can't negotiate with the Fish until May 2004, BUT if Pudge were to sign with another team, can that team then trade him to the Fish (obviously the answer to this part is yes) and would he then be eligible for a full year's service with the Marlins?

 

I don't especially want to trudge through the entire MLB/MLPA Basic Agreement to find the answer. Does anyone know definitively?

 

(BTW, if Pudge were to sign in Baltimore I'd sure take Lopez's 3yr/$22.5 million contract off their hands in a heartbeat.)