Ivan Rodriguez

Between the Capitals’ success, the Redskins’ woes and the Wizards’ near-invisibility, it’s easy to forget that the Nationals — or at least the team’s front office — are busy at this time of the year, too. Baseball’s winter meetings are in full swing this week, where the league’s general managers all get together to wheel and deal.

This off-season, one of the Nats’ highest priorities was to find a reliable backup catcher, someone who could keep the spot warm until Jesus Flores sufficiently recovers from a shoulder injury. Apparently unable to find a competent backup for less money, Washington swooped in and signed free-agent catcher Ivan Rodriguez to a two-year, $6 million contract yesterday.

Pudge is a no-doubt-about-it Hall of Famer. He’s made 14 All-Star Games and won the 1999 AL MVP. The man is arguably the best defensive catcher to have ever played the game, and he has the 13 Gold Gloves to prove it. He was a very competent offensive player in his prime, and now sits but 289 hits away from 3,000. All that, plus he’s had the tread to handle 18 major league seasons; Rodriguez played 115 games behind the plate last year and made only seven errors. To boot, he seems like a real upstanding guy. He’s a name for a team that needs some name recognition. All of this is great.

New general manager Mike Rizzo feeling the need to throw three million bucks per year at a 38-year-old catcher who made half that much last season, however, is not so great. Very little about this move makes sense from a financial standpoint. Nationals Journal described Rodriguez’s skill set as “diminished,” which is about as nice as one can put it. While it’s understandable that Pudge’s defensive abilities have waned slightly due to age and almost 20 years of wear, I don’t know if anyone at Nats Park truly comprehended the massive decline in his offensive game over the last four years before offering him such a large deal. Everything goes better with charts:

Rodriguez has seen a nearly 50 point decline in each of the three major batting categories since 2006. Would you give any player with that trendline a 50 percent raise, knowing that he’s simply plugging a hole until a promising youngster can take his place? Yeah, me neither. But welcome to Washington, Pudge — here’s hoping you prove me wrong.