OT: Baseball - Bye Bye Pudge
Holy cow! Pudge for Farnsworth straight up?
Tells me the management is ready to put THEIR stamp on the Tigers on the field moreso than the former Marlins Mercenaries that have been the centerpieces of this team.
I'd rather have seen Sheff traded.
Just sorta blown away by this. I know he's a free agent at the end of the year but I've been led to believe it was "his team" and "his clubhouse." Wow!
March 10th, 2021 at 11:51 PM ^
Could be
March 10th, 2021 at 11:51 PM ^
Highly doubtful
You hit the nail on the head, Chitown. People are thinking of what Pudge used to be, not what he is. The guy has a worse OBP than Inge. What does that tell you? As much of a psychopath Farnsworth is, he's still better than Jones or Dolsi and is more reliable than F-Bomb or Zumaya who can't stay healthy.
97.1 also just stated that Brandon Inge will be the Tigers full time catcher for not only the remainder of this year, but, for all of next year as well. That confirms the rumor that was going around back in May that DD and Inge had a sit down meeting and Inge agreed to become a full time catcher once Pudge was gone after this season.
Jay, I'm 100000% with you on this.
March 10th, 2021 at 11:51 PM ^
Am I the only one
I don't think Pudge can even see Mauer at this point, and even though he's been awful this year, I still think Martinez is clearly better than Pudge. So I don't think its even an argument that there are better catchers in the division. Anyway, as a Yankee fan, I like this deal. They need a catcher in the worst way (Molina as a .586 OPS, and if he went down they have Chad Moeller, who might be worse). Farnsworth was great in Jult, but he's been inconsistent for the last three years, so I don't think it will last.
March 10th, 2021 at 11:52 PM ^
Again
August 1st, 2008 at 10:43 AM ^
I'd agree, but I'd also say that the AL Central probably had the best catcher depth of any division. You already have Mauer and Martinez, the #1 and 2 offensive catchers in baseball. AJ Pierzynski is also pretty good. Kellly Schoppach at backup for Cleveland is doing better than Inge and John Buck, the KC catcher. Pudge was better than at least 50% of starting catchers in MLB.
I mean, look at the stats. For all his "not every day player" status, he's still played in more games than 1/2 of the AL starting catchers. His OBP is actually 40 points higher than his BA, .338 vs .295, and better than all but 3 AL starting catchers, and his .755 trails only Navarro (who came out of nowhere) Schoppach, Mauer...and Inge. Throw in his still Gold Glove caliber defense and his game calling ability... Pudge wasn't exactly chopped liver.
I do grant that Inge will be a slight upgrade, as getting on base means nothing if you can't score, more HR/doubles. I just think that getting Farnsworth was just a poor value. Pudge was the best available catcher on the market and the Yankees were desperate. DD should have, could have gotten more.
Plenty of baseball teams trade their best hitter and reigning AL MVP runner-up.
Unless you are completely blowing up the team, which is not happening, you don't touch Ordonez.
1) Yeah, Farnsworth throws a pretty flat fast ball, but he's been pitching well lately, and if he continues to do so throughout the season, it gives the Tigers a far better shot at the playoffs. He played fairly well the last time he was in Detroit and I'd pin a lot of his struggles on that whole Yankees-fans-demand-perfection thing. He's only here until the end of the year either way.
2) Dane Sardinha
3) Nobody from the AL Central is winning the wildcard this year. A number of teams would have to go on a HUGE slide for that to happen. The Tigers are either winning the division or out.
4) What good does hanging onto Pudge and bringing up guys from AAA do? They've been doing this all year, and Pudge was likely gone at the end of the season, anyway, when the Tigers couldn't have gotten ANYTHING for him because he'd be a free agent.
August 1st, 2008 at 10:24 AM ^
MLB has a compensatory draft pick system, it works kind of like restricted free agency in the NFL.
Basically, if a player is a FA over the winter, as long as you ask for arbitration and Pudge signs with a different team, you get compensated with a decently high draft pick, sometimes 2 if its a bigger name player.
And before you say "well Pudge would resign with the Tigers in arbitration", no he wouldn't have. Some young team would have offered him a ton of money for a longer term deal, and the Tigers would have had a great arbitration case, playing on Pudge's age, durability, all of his bad qualities that would have resulted in a 2-3 year deal at probably 4-5 mil. Pudge would not take this and leave a 3-4 year 8-9 million/year deal on the table that Boras would get for him.
This could still happen with Farnsworth, but Pudge is a good leader type, respected HOF catcher who still has a big name value which = selling seats. You could argue that he brings legitimacy... like his 2004 signing did for the Tigs. Farnsworth is a decent middle reliever who is only 3 years younger than Pudge, commands nowhere near the same value, has shunned Detroit before, CRIED when he left NY, and falls a level below Pudge in the compensatory draft system. At this point, 100 ash bats are probably worth more than Farnsworth, especially if the Tigers don't make the playoffs.
August 1st, 2008 at 10:46 AM ^
August 1st, 2008 at 10:57 AM ^