Marlins sign Pudge

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http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2003/0122/1497122.html

Pudge agrees to one-year deal with Florida

Associated Press

MIAMI -- The Florida Marlins and 10-time All-Star catcher Ivan Rodriguez agreed Wednesday on a $10 million, one-year contract.

Rodriguez played 1,479 games with the Texas Rangers, hitting .303 with 215 homers and 829 RBIs and developed a reputation as one of the best catchers in baseball.

The Rangers refused to offer the 31-year-old Rodriguez salary arbitration in December in a payroll-slashing moving. Rodriguez received a $2 million severance payment from the team as the end of his previous contract.

His deal with Florida includes a no-trade clause and an agreement that the Marlins will not offer him salary arbitration after the season.

Rodriguez, who had been negotiating with Baltimore, missed nearly two months early last season because of a herniated disk in his back, but hit .314 with 19 homers and 60 RBIs in 108 games.

He replaces sluggers Cliff Floyd and Preston Wilson in the middle of the lineup and working with a young and talented starting rotation that includes A.J. Burnett, Brad Penny and Josh Beckett.

The Marlins traded catcher Charles Johnson to Colorado in November as part of a six-player deal that brought left-hander Mike Hampton and outfielder Juan Pierre to Florida. Hampton was then traded to Atlanta.

Rodriguez made his major league debut as a 19-year-old kid midway through the 1991 season.

He won 10 straight Gold Gloves, started nine consecutive All-Star games from 1993 to 2001 and was voted AL MVP in 1999.

Since his MVP season, when he was the first catcher since Thurman Munson in 1976 to win that award, Rodriguez has been hampered by injuries. He also missed the end of the 2000 and 2001 seasons, and has missed 176 games in three seasons after missing just 153 the previous nine years.

Rodriguez was hitting .347 with 27 homers and 83 RBI through 91 games in 2000 when a broken thumb ended his season. In 2001, he played 111 games (.308, 25 homers, 65 RBI) before having knee surgery for tendinitis.


Florida plays at Texas from June 13 to 15.

[awefullspellare]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA


goodness hes funny!!!!

[Nanner]

:yikes: OHMIGOD!!!!!

Well.


Well, well, well.

Guess the guy went for the money.:hmm:

Hmmmm. Interesting.

[bd811]

wow. im surprised. I didn't think Pudge would find someone willing to give him $10 mil, and I definately didn't think it would have been the Marlins! I kept hearin rumors about the O's, cubbies, brewers, and I even heard a rumor about the white sox bein interested! but i don't remember hearing anything about the marlins!

hmmm, wonder if the marlins will have to deal another player to be able to afford Pudge's contract...Mike Lowell perhaps:idea: :devillol:

[Baseball Guru]

WTF??????????

I must say, I didnt see this coming....

I must have a little talk with my informant:angry:

[bd811]

Maybe their plan is to pay 3 or 4 million dollars of his salary and then trade him to Baltimore, Chicago, or Milwaukee.:idea:

[Baseball Guru]

What in the Hell are the Marlins doing???

This is been one heck of an interesting offseason for the Marlins...

They look like they are cutting salary then they go ahead and do this??

Oh well, he'll probably be traded within a week:hmm:

[Baseball Guru]

A little bit of info on the money breakdown:

Florida will pay Rodriguez $3 million this year, with the remainder deferred without interest. The Marlins will pay him $3 million on June 1, 2004, and $2 million each on June 1 in the following two years.

His deal with the Marlins includes a no-trade clause and an agreement that the Marlins will not offer him salary arbitration after the season.

[GiveHyzduashot]

Very surprising, to say the least.

If anyone said in October the Marlins would sign Pudge, we would've laughed at him/her.

$10 million though ... that's too much.

[Trots]

I can't figure out what the Marlins are trying to do this off-season, either. Trade contracts, but sign Pudge to $10 million? Pay a large portion of Hampton's deal, but ship him to ATL?

What's with the no-trade, no arbitration clauses? Does he want to be in Florida or not?

This deal is another blow to the collusion theory, though.

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Originally posted by Baseball Guru
His deal with the Marlins includes a no-trade clause and an agreement that the Marlins will not offer him salary arbitration after the season.

Interesting contract to say the least ... But I'm also guessing his no-trade clause could be waived if Florida finds a suitor (aggreable to Pudge) who will take him and extend the contract a few years as part of the trade ... Just a gut feeling, but despite the no-trade clause there's something that tell me he won't be wearing Fish Blue come August.

[imgreat95]

Why wouldn't Pudge sign with the Marlins for a year?? Look at it this way. The only offers he had received al\l winter were from the Orioles for $6 million per season.... and from the Marlins for $10 million, albeit only for one season. Pudge lives in Miami during the offseason. So, he goes there for that kind of money and hopes to have a monster year where he then goes back on the market and gets lots of money to play somewhere that he wants to play. If he DOESN'T re-establish himself, he walks away $10 million richer and is out of baseball.

Not a bad deal, if you ask me.

[GiveHyzduashot]

Bump.

So, what do we all think now? ;)

[imgreat95]

I think it now looks even better than i initially thought.

Something else I thought about though while re-reading this thread. Florida is paying a large part of mike Hampton's salary, right? What happens if Atlanta comes back and wins and then plays the Marlins in the LCS. Say Hampton is the winning pitcher for the Braves in the clinching game. Wouldn't THAT suck??

[Baseball Guru]

Say Hampton is the winning pitcher for the Braves in the clinching game. Wouldn't THAT suck??

Yes that would SUCK!!

I'm still trying to understand the thinking behind that deal:angry:

[PopTop]

I was surprised all season that Pudge wasn't shopped around some, either that or none of the shopping earlier in the season made any news ... It still seems weird to me that FLA was where he chose to sign, but it sure worked out for both him and the team, didn't it?

As much as I do not like the Braves, part of me deep down was rooting for Hampton to do just that, beat the Fish in the NLCS ... That still ranks as a horrible trade in my book, horrible for baseball that is, and it should've never been allowed in my opinion.

[johnd24_42]

Could $10 million ever be viewed as a...um...bargain? With Pudge and the Marlins it possibly could be.

Pudge didn't have gaudy offensive stats, not hitting .300 (.297), not hitting 20 HR (15) and not getting even 90 RBI (85). However, these stats are pretty damn good for a catcher, just not what Pudge is used to, so maybe we hold him to a higher standard.

But in addition to his very good stats for a catcher, he stayed healthy and did have 511 at bats and played 144 games. With no DH in the NL, that is pretty huge. In addition, could you pick a better handler of pitchers outside of Jorge Posada (and some would say Pudge is definitely the best in the game) to handle a young pitching staff like the Marlins? Beckett...Penny...Willis...this team would NOT be going to the playoffs without Ivan Rodriguez.

Ivan Rodriguez put this team in the postseason and is their MVP. $10 million well spent, and I never thought I'd say that.

Here's a question though...how will he do NEXT season at age 33?