Pudge in Pinstripes!

The Yankees have swindled the Detroit Tigers into sending catcher Ivan Rodriguez in exchange for our good ole buddy Kyle Farnsworth. Seems like a steal even if Pudge is just average.

Pudge won't have to catch Kyle like he did in '05.

While he doesn’t sport the kind of OBP that the Yankees like, Pudge will give them a strong batting average (.302 career, .295 this year). While he does have a 101 OPS+ right now, he hasn’t finished a season with one higher than 97 since 2004 (136). No matter, he is still an upgrade over Jose Molina, as this should return the latter to the backup role. Chad Moeller is likely DFA’d for good this time.

Farns was having somewhat of a bounce-back year (3.65 ERA) but is still allowing close to a hit an inning, and his walk totals are traditionally high (17 in 44.1 IP). I think he may have been getting lucky at times, because there’s no way a reliever who pitches to the tune of a 1.353 WHIP should be pitching in late-inning situations. Let’s let Jim Leyland figure that out.

As an added bonus, Pudge is going to be a Type-A free agent after the season and will not likely accept arbitration. Hello, extra draft picks.