In a nice little about-face, Richard Justice is singing a slightly different tune.
It goes as such:
1. Pudge is old.
2. The Astros kind of stink.
3. Drayton got nervous about empty seats.
So is Pudge a Band-Aid for a team with a broke neck? Here's the thing - we don't know how this is going to shake out for a few months. Is it interesting? Sure, because it's better than talking about how the Astros haven't won a Spring Training game since February 25. Is it risky? Of course. There may be a very good reason a Boras client wasn't signed until March 16.
Stone cold locks don't go unsigned until March 16. But we just don't know. If maybe we all take a step back and look at this objectively, who would you rather have behind the plate in 2009: Quintero, Towles or Palmisano? Or Pudge? Castro is clearly the catcher of the future (unless he shows up and goes 1x17 in 2010), so this is obviously just a stop-gap, $1.5 million signing until Bobby Heck's farm system kicks in.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
