Florida shocked many in the baseball world yesterday by signing Ivan Rodriguez to a one-year, $10M contract. Rumors were circulating of the Orioles continued interest in the catcher, but no other teams were really on the radar.

My initial reaction to the acquisition was not positive. After dealing Charles Johnson the Marlins had finally appeared ready to enter a season with only two catchers on their roster. Ramon Castro and Mike Redmond were a more competent pair than many teams in baseball possess as backstops. Now they once again have one more major league quality catcher than they need.

However, upon further examination, I find it hard to argue with adding a player that will improve the team and bring more fans out to the ballpark. Rodriguez is considered to be more effective than any other catcher in the game in reducing stolen bases, which is a valuable asset in a stadium with turf that facilitates base stealing. I wouldn't normally expect someone with his plate discipline to post a .300+ BA, but he's done so for the past eight seasons, so he's definitely demonstrated that he's able to combine his speed and power to accomplish the feat. Their lightweight lineup will also benefit from the pop in his bat. Pudge deserves to be referred to as a future Hall of Famer and will attract fans to the team. Additionally, I believe that he's capable of remaining healthy for an entire season provided he's kept off the weight he lost during his rehab last season.

While I think the Marlins are competing for third place rather than first in the division, it is a long season and a lot could happen. This pick-up increases their ability to take advantage of the situation if misfortune strikes the competition and doesn't significantly impair their prospects in future years.

Unfortunately, I don't expect the Marlins to optimize Rodriguez's contribution to the team. I expect the 31-year-old's capacity to steal bases has diminished over the past few years, but Jeff Torborg likes to run, so I expect IRod to be active on the basepaths. Consequently, his injury risk will be increased by the additional effort while the team will likely barely benefit and could be harmed if his success rate is low enough.

Torborg has announced he plans to hit Rodriguez third, which I approve of only if he no longer plans to hit Luis Castillo and Juan Pierre one-two. At the moment their most efficient lineup appears to be:
1. S-2B Luis Castillo
2. R-1B Derrek Lee
3. R-C Ivan Rodriguez
4. R-3B Mike Lowell
5. L-LF Todd Hollandsworth
6. R-RF Juan Encarnacion
7. L-CF Juan Pierre
8. R-SS Alex Gonzalez

If Pierre's OBP returns to it's 2001 levels, then they can consider bumping him up to leadoff and rearranging the lineup.

Hopefully they'll be able to deal one of the now excess catchers to improve the club in other areas, though their actions in past years indicate that they won't necessarily make that move. I thought the inclusion of a no-trade clause in Rodriguez's contract was the worst part of the deal, as he should be excellent trade bait at the All-Star break. However, he considers Florida his home and there's every possibility that the Marlins could decide to retain him beyond the 2003 season. Reportedly, one stipulation of the contract is that they cannot offer him arbitration at the end of the year, so they will not be able to receive compensation if he departs as a free agent.

Florida was able to fit him into the budget because Rodriguez agreed to defer large portions of his salary over the next few years. The money will be spread out over four years with IRod receiving $3M payments in 2003 and 2004 and $2M payments in 2005 and 2006. While I'm sure he was more amenable to this arrangement due to his attachment to the area, teams like the Orioles and Cubs, who could have really used his services, should be kicking themselves for letting him get away at this price.

The Marlins agreed to contracts with several of their arbitration-eligible players recently. Brad Penny signed a one-year, $1.875M contract. Penny needs to improve his control before he'll develop into more than just a decent innings eater. Unfortunately, the 24-year-old experienced some arm problems last season and yet participated in the All-Star tour of Japan after which many participants have suffered injury trouble. Considering Torborg is one of the worst managers in the game at taking care of his pitchers, he seems likely to spend much more time on the DL in 2003.

Florida signed Armando Almanza to a one-year, $775,000 contract, which seems in line with what he offers the team. The 30-year-old functioned acceptably in the Marlins bullpen last season and should repeat his performance in 2003.

Derrek Lee signed a one-year, $4.25M contract. Lee's walk rate took a nice jump up to .17 last season, so while he still strikes out quite a lot, he's displaying excellent plate discipline. He also displayed more power than ever before and at 27, we can expect him to improve on and maintain this pace for the next few years, making him well worth the money.

Juan Encarnacion signed a one-year, $3.25M contract. Encarnacion's plate discipline also improved last season, but the progress was much smaller and he needs to continue working on his strike zone judgment. His power appears to have peaked with most of the apparent increase merely due to the move out of Comerica. Encarnacion is another player with a little speed who Torborg will have running, but who really doesn't have the baserunning skills to be an asset to the team in that area. The 26-year-old should maintain this level for the next few years with only gradual if any improvement. I doubt he would have earned quite this much on the open market but it seems within range of appropriate.

Mike Redmond signed a one-year, $1.05M contract. The 31-year-old has demonstrated decent plate discipline throughout his career, allowing him to at least offer the Marlins a decent BA and OBP, though he lacks power or speed skills. He also has a reputation as a good defensive player, making him worthy of a starting job on many teams.

Free agent Gerald Williams signed a one-year, $325,000 contract with Florida a couple weeks ago. Williams spent the majority of last season with the Reds AAA affiliate at Louisville, where he was only able to hit .263 with a .307 OBP and .371 SLG on 54 H, 10 2B, 3 3B, and 2 HR with an 11:36 BB:K and 6/10 SB% in 205 AB. As I don't expect him to be able to manage even that level of production in the majors, I think the Marlins have clearly made a mistake with this acquisition. However, they plan to break camp with him on the roster as a reserve outfielder.