Justice's blog post today says this:
Maybe it wouldn't work out. Maybe Roy Oswalt, Mike Hampton and the others simply would not get comfortable with Pudge.
But he's worth a shot. The Astros are in a win-now mode with the age of their core players. Jason Castro is at least a year away from the big leagues, and there's no way to know how good any of the young catchers are going to be.
If Pudge could catch, say, 100 games, if he could duplicate his 2008 numbers--.276 BA, 7 HRs, 35 RBIs--he'd keep that spot in the batting order from being a black hole.
He's a Scott Boras client, so there's no way to gauge what the market is for him, or if there's a market at all. If he'd take a one-year deal at $1 million, he'd be worth a gamble. And it definitely would be a gamble.
After listing a number of reasons why the Astros shouldn't sign Pudge, he then says "for a million dollars, he's worth it." While he may be worth it at $1 million, he's also a Boras guy and is expecting $3 million. Scott Boras' clients don't sign for less than they think they're worth (see: Ramirez, Manny), and they won't play if they "get disrespected."
While signing aging, declining players (to expensive, long-term contracts) has been popular among Astros' GMs, I think it's time we let the young guys play. Allowing the players to push each other in competition is a pretty great way to improve.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith