Pudge Keeps His Tiger Stripes

The Tigers ended the long period of uncertainty (OK, more like a week or two of speculation) and announced on Tuesday that they have exercised Ivan Rodriguez's $13 million option for 2008- meaning the 36 year-old Pudge will be back with Detroit for a fifth season.

Club president and GM Dave Dombrowski was complimentary, but not quite enthusiastic, about the 18 year MLB veteran.

"We still feel that Pudge is one of the better catchers in baseball," Dombrowski said. "We just felt that he did a solid job for us this year, and we feel like he's still one of the top catchers available in the game."

Not surprisingly, Pudge's uber-agent Scott Boras agrees with the club's decision.

"I think it was a very easy decision," Boras said. "It's clear that if he was a free agent, he'd be getting a multi-year contract."

A quick look at the other catchers (potentially) on the free agent market this year, courtesy of MLB Trade Rumors:

Brad Ausmus (39)
Michael Barrett (31)
Ramon Castro (32)
Jason Kendall (34)
Paul Lo Duca (36)
Jorge Posada (36)
Jose Molina (33)
Yorvit Torrealba (30)

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