While the Baltimore Orioles are still one of the teams interested in signing Adam Dunn after losing out on local boy Mark Teixeira, the team also has a hole to fill behind home plate. After trading Ramon Hernandez to the Reds earlier this month, it appeared as though the Orioles were clearing room for catching prospect Matt Wieters to take over the role. Now it seems that not everybody in the organization is convinced that Wieters will be ready to take on that responsibility when the season starts.
Which is why they've contacted Scott Boras about Ivan Rodriguez to see if he'd be interested in becoming an Oriole.
Former Oriole Gregg Zaun remains the free-agent catcher most likely to end up in the Orioles lineup on Opening Day, but there have been conversations with agent Scott Boras about veteran Ivan Rodriguez. Whether he would be a good fit to mentor Matt Wieters and eventually step aside for the O's top minor league prospect has been a subject of some discussion in the O's front office.
I don't see Pudge ending up in Baltimore because at this stage of his career I'm sure he'd rather be on a team considered a World Series contender, and with the Orioles playing in a division that includes the defending AL champion Rays, the Red Sox, and the
New York Yankees, the Orioles are not a World Series contender.
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Especially if that non-contender is only signing him as a temporary solution until their other catcher is ready to take over. Of course, if Rodriguez did sign with Baltimore, I suppose they could just do what the Tigers did if he doesn't appreciate losing his job to an unproven prospect and just trade him at the deadline when they're out of the playoff race.
Pudge Could End Up In Baltimore originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:36:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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