Sorry for the delay in the blog. Once again this week life and laziness got in the way of the important things. The goal is to complete positional analysis for the Tigers before the season starts. Today will focus on the catcher position.Following the 119 loss season the Detroit team lacked any sort of credibility and talent in the baseball realm. The franchised lacked personality and attracting free agents to the D was a challenge. Management was forced to overpay for talent, mostly aging talent. Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez is the epitome of this fact. Pudge is still a quality catcher, but is on the downhill side of a hall of fame career while getting paid handsomely for it. Defensively, Pudge is one of the best in the business with a rocket arm and a reputation for being able to handle pitching staffs. Although up till now this has yet to translate with the Tigers. His feud with manager Alan Trammell are well documented from last season and provide part of the reason Trammell lost control of the team. For better or worse, Pudge is the face of the franchise. Hopefully he buys into Leyland’s system and plays better all around. His shining moment last season was his runner-up performance in the home run derby in front of the hometown fans.
Pudge struggled last year offensively following a strong season the year before. His batting average dropped from .334 in 2004 to .276 last year. Both his home run and RBI numbers fell as well, but were not as significant as his loss in weight. Last year he didn’t look like a “Pudge.” It bodes well for this season that he has put on some weight and hopefully won’t wear down the way he did last year. Expect Rodriguez to hit close to his career average of .304 bouncing back this season with around 15 HR and 70 RBIs. Pudge appears to be focused this year following the messy divorce last year. He reports he want to catch 120 games this year, which is nice to hear even if it doesn’t come true.
The other 42 games will be manned by veteran back-up catcher Vance Wilson. He is solid defensively and not much to write about offensively. In 61 games in 2005 he hit .197 with 3 HR and 19 RBIs. He is a lifetime .243 hitter. Hopefully this year he will get back over the Mendoza line. In a jam the Tigers can also play either Chris Shelton or Brandon Inge at catcher. Both formerly occupied the position and Inge is a solid defensive catcher.
Despite being toward the end of his career, Pudge still provides the Tigers with on of the top catchers in baseball. Taking into account all around play he is one of the top five at his position. Although he might only be the third best catcher in the AL Central with Victor Martinez and Joe Mauer if they are healthy.
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Go Tigers!!!
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