Yankees Acquire Ivan Rodriguez from Tigers for Kyle Farnsworth

I don't get this trade at least where it concerns the Yankees.

Yes, Jorge Posada is having season ending shoulder surgery. But the Yankees have a more than capable catcher in Jose Molina. I suppose they want Pudge's bat but he is no longer a power hitter. The flip side of this is that Pudge is a free agent at the end of the season so the Yankees are essentially renting him for two months.

Ivan Rodriguez is a future first ballot Hall of Famer who has played with the Tigers since 2004. Although Pudge won a World Series ring with the Florida Marlins in 2003 at the expense of the Yankees I don't think he will add much to the Bronx Bombers. At the very least, the Yankees gave up too much to get him.

I am not a big Kyle Farnsworth fan. However, he is probably playing the best baseball of his life. Since the Yankees put Joba Chamberlain into the starting rotation, Farnsworth has been Mariano Rivera's 8th inning set up man and has excelled. The Tigers definitely got the better of this deal.

Farnsworth will share set up duties with Joel Zumaya. Given how injury prone Zumaya is the presence of Farnsworth will ease his workload. It is worth noting Farnsworth pitched briefly for the Tigers during the 2005 season and was a teammate of Pudge. The Tigers bullpen has undergone some revamping with Fernando Rodney recently supplanting Todd Jones as the team's closer.

There is just under 23 hours left until the trade deadline. We'll know soon enough if the Red Sox decide to move Manny Ramirez.