Pudge Rodriguez has been placed on the disabled list with back problems.
I blame this on Randy Galloway, who is now the new miles. Galloway said this about Pudge about a month ago:
But for those multitudes who have angrily asked via e-mail, here's the deal at catcher:
Blame Nolan.
Mr. Ryan knew all along it was best to re-sign Pudge Rodriguez after last season. Daniels, his GM, wanted no part of that. He wanted Salty to be the front-line catcher, apparently without the pressure of Pudge looking over his shoulder.
Pudge asked the Rangers for a two-year deal, $3 million total. Daniels told me he didn't want to go the second year. This had nothing do with the Hicks-inflicted payroll disaster. It was just Daniels' love of Salty.
A team that was billing itself as a contender (Nolan said 92 wins) left itself amazingly short at catcher.
Out of nowhere, the Washington Nationals came along and offered Pudge a deal of $6 million for two years, doubling his asking price from the Rangers. Pudge didn't want to leave Arlington, but for that money, there was no choice.
Ryan should have stepped in early in the process, overruled Daniels, and secured Pudge, who has had a strong April for the surprising Nats. Pudge and Treanor sharing time could have been enough to get it done here.
Interesting that I link back to this today, of all days, since Galloway's headline is "Rangers' bottom line: They're Not Bankrupt."
Anyway...since the Galloway kiss of death, Pudge has put up a .233/.242/.350 line, and is now on the d.l. Pudge has a 790 OPS on the season, but that's fueled by an unsustainable batting average...he doesn't walk or hit for power anymore, so once he normalizes at around .270, he's basically Matt Treanor.
I point this out mainly because there have been some complaints that Pudge wasn't brought back, but he's a 38 year old catcher, and 38 year old catchers don't hold up over the course of a full season. The list of catchers who have caught 100 games at age 38 or older consists of Carlton Fisk, Bob Boone, Brad Ausmus, Benito Santiago, Al Todd, and Fred Jacklitsch.
It is a physically demanding position, and as the trip to the d.l. today for Pudge illustrates, catchers don't age well. Pudge would have been nice to have in April, but not signing him to a two year deal -- particularly if he wanted to be the starter -- was reasonable.