Ivan Rodriguez, the future Hall of Fame catcher who is now with the Houston Astros, set the all-time record for most games caught in a career. Fittingly, he set the record on Wednesday against the Texas Rangers — the team he played on for the fist dozen seasons of his career.
With his outing on Wednesday, Rodriguez has now caught 2,227 games. The former record holder was Carlton Fisk. Bob Boone is third on the list with 2,225 games, while Gary Carter is fourth with 2,056 games.
The now 37-year-old native of Puerto Rico originally broke into Major League Baseball when he …read more

At some points during the offseason, it appeared as if Pudge Rodriguez’s career could be over. He was coming off of a disappointing season and few teams showed interest. However, after playing well in the World Baseball Classic, the Houston Astros came calling.
Rodriguez has played well as the starting catcher for the Astros. On Sunday, Rodriguez hit the 300th home run of his career to help the Astros beat the Chicago Cubs by a final count of 6-5.
The 300th blast for Rodriguez came in the top of the fourth inning. His two-run shot was off of Rich Harden and gave …read more

The Houston Astros have a new starting catcher. On Monday, the team reached an agreement with Ivan Rodriguez on a one-year deal worth as much as $3 million.
Last season, Rodriguez had an underwhelming campaign as he split time between the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees. Although interest in his was lukewarm in recent months, the Florida Marlins were said to be interested. However, after playing well for the Puerto Rico in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, the Astros came calling.
The contract reportedly guarantees Rodriguez at least $1.5 million. He could earn another $1.5 million through performance bonuses.
The Astros …read more

Ivan Rodriguez, who is regarded by many as one of the best catchers in the history of the game, is still a free agent. While no deal appears imminent, rumblings have started to connect Rodriguez with the Florida Marlins.
Rodriguez has a history with the Marlins. Not only does he live in Miami, he spent one season of his career with team. That happened to be in 2003 when the Marlins won the World Series while Rodriguez was one of the team’s biggest stars.
After that season, he signed a big free agent deal with the Detroit Tigers. Last year, the Tigers …read more

Andy Pettitte
Although Andy Pettitte reportedly turned down a one-year, $10 million deal from the New York Yankees earlier in the offseason, the two sides are still talking. The Yankees are hoping Pettitte will eventually accept a deal around the same amount of money.
Manny Ramirez
A lot of insiders have expected the New York Mets to make a run at Manny Ramirez but that doesn’t appear to be happening. The Mets instead are looking around for pitching. Ramirez looks like he has a couple suitors, with the San Francisco Giants showing the most interest. A new darkhorse? The Texas Rangers.
Ivan Rodriguez
The interesting …read more

The 2008 baseball trade deadline saw a flurry of trades involving some of the biggest names in the game. Players who were traded include future Hall of Famers Manny Ramirez, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Pudge Rodriguez.
Here is a breakdown of who got traded and to where.

Manny Ramirez traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers
Ken Griffey, Jr. traded to the Chicago White Sox
Ivan Rodriguez traded to the New York Yankees
Jason Bay traded to the Boston Red Sox
Kyle Farnsworth traded to the Detroit Tigers
Arthur Rhodes traded to the Florida Marlins

Manny Ramirez and his bat are headed to the Dodgers.
Photo: Newscom

   Photo by Eddie~S   some rights reserved
J.D. Arney at Red Reporter has written a great post about exciting players he’s seen over the years. As you might expect, his list contains a fair amount of Reds. Actually, it contains only Reds, because — well, he’s the Red Reporter. Get it?
Anyway, I thought it might be fun to take this concept and extend it. Here are the most exciting players I’ve ever seen:
C: I’m not sure that I’ve encountered any “exciting” catchers. (I’m guessing Ivan Rodriguez, but I’ve only seen him play once or twice.) Maybe early Benito Santiago. I enjoyed watching Mike …read more