The Houston Astros were going to enter the season with two largely unproven catchers. J.R. Towles and Humberto Quintero were in the middle of an epic "let's see who is worse at hitting" battle in Spring Training. Seriously, this was a war of futiltiy if I've ever seen one. Quintero is hitting .182 with a dismal .546 OPS through 11 games. Towles, not to be out-sucked, sports a .133 average and .521 OPS. Now, I'm not sure if the combined lack of offensive prowess behind the plate caused Astros' GM Ed Wade to sign Ivan Rodriguez, because the Astros have a recent history of clinging to their veterans and going all out for the current season anyway. Regardless, Pudge (Part II) is now in the fray. Is he worth owning in fantasy baseball this season?
I wouldn't. Rodriguez has steadily regressed since 2004 -- shockingly, the year the league started testing for performance-enhancers -- and last season he was pretty lousy.
Really, he's the illustration of a bust pick that you can expect to be made by inexperienced fantasy players. He has name recognition, and now he's moving to the more hitter-friendly league -- and a more hitter-friendly park than the one he played in for the most of his at-bats in the last five seasons.
In 2008, he hit .276 with seven home runs and 35 RBI. He did manage to swipe 10 bases, his highest total since his lone season with the Marlins, and he doesn't kill you in batting average (.276 last year).
The bottom line, though, is that he's 37 years old, and he was horrible in the second half last season. You could justify his potential line of .270, 12 home runs, 60 RBI, 60 runs, and 5 stolen bases in larger leagues, but that's assuming he can stay healthy and get some of his power back. I would rather just let someone else pay for his name, and I recommend you do the same.
