Yahoo!Sports.com's Tim Brown just sent a message out on his Twitter account which reads as follows:
"Pudge Rodriguez agrees with Nats for $6 million over two years."
SI.com's Jon Heyman just said the same on Twitter:
"pudge rodriguez signs with #nationals"
Late Monday night, or maybe early Tuesday, the Washington Nationals announced their second acquisition of the Winter Meetings, signing 38-year-old catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez to what is reportedly a 2-year/$6 million dollar deal. On XM's Inside Pitch with Casey Stern and Buck Martinez on Monday, DC Skipper Jim Riggleman said that though the Nationals expected 25-year-old catcher Jesus Flores, (who tore his right labrum while rehabbing from a stress fracture in his right shoulder), to be ready to play by "mid-Spring Training", after last year's struggles with two backups, Josh Bard and Wil Nieves, sharing the catching duties, Mr. Riggleman thought it was necessary that the team, "...try to fortify our catching...during the meetings."
Rodriguez, in his 19th MLB season, played 93 games for the Astros in '09 before being dealt to the Texas Rangers, where he appeared in 28 more hitting for a combined .249 AVG with a .280 OBP, .384 SLG and a .663 OPS with 23 doubles, 10 HR's and 47 RBI's in 425 at bats. In 2010 he's expected to act as a backup/mentor to Flores, though he could see significant time behind the plate should the oft-injured catcher suffer any setbacks. The 14-time All-Star, a winner of 13 Gold Gloves, 7 Silver Sluggers and the 1999 AL MVP Award, has been to the World Series twice, winning with Florida in 2003, beating the Yankees and losing to the Cardinals while with the Detroit Tigers in 2006.
First a trade for Brian Bruney. Then "Pudge" Rodriguez signs. What does DC GM Mike Rizzo have in store for day two...?