Ivan Rodriguez To Lose Playing Time

Ivan Rodriguez, the Tigers’ $13MM catcher, will now be used in a platoon with Brandon Inge.  They’ll alternate starts behind the plate.

Rodriguez, 36, is hitting .245 (AVG)/.286 (OBP)/.349 (SLG) in 208 plate appearances.  This didn’t come out of nowhere – PECOTA had him at .267/.295/.390.  PECOTA is a projection system developed by Baseball Prospectus.  The PECOTA system uses comparable players to make its estimates.

Hot stove implications of Jim Leyland’s new plan: the Tigers will learn if Brandon Inge can be their everyday catcher in 2009 (Inge is signed through 2010).  If not, the Tigers seem more likely to explore the free agent market than to re-sign Pudge.  What a difference a few months can make – last offseason the Tigers exercised Rodriguez’s $13MM option and tried to trade Inge.