Pudge Rodriguez will return to the Tigers in 2008 as the club announced it has picked up his $13 million option. That's a lot of money, but 1) Detroit figured it wouldn't find a better replacement, and 2) I think ownership feels it owes Pudge for being the catalyst for the team's turnaround.
I think what you'll get from Pudge now is .280-10-65, which hardly seems worthy of $13 million, but it's only $2 million more than Pudge made this season (and Jason Varitek made $11 million for nearly the same production, and worse defense.) Pudge had a tough year behind the plate in 2007, but still managed to throw out 29% of baserunners, which was 4th among AL regulars. Most alarming was his .510 WP/PB per game, 2nd to only Jorge Posado (.530) for worst in AL. Hopefully, that's an aberration and not a trend as Pudge gets up in age.
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