What about Pudge?

One of the greatest catchers in the history of the game remains unsigned. Ivan Rodriguez is no doubt ticketed to the Hall of Fame 5 years after he retires. Two of the greatest catchers in the history of the game entered the league just one year apart from one another. Pudge joined the Rangers in 1991 and the next year Mike Piazza won the Rookie of the Year Award with the Dodgers. Piazza is now retired and Pudge is on his way out, but is intent on playing another year. He’s no longer the hitter he once was. He’s actually a pretty bad hitter at this point in his career. He was still a pretty good fielder in 2008 though. According to Colin Wyers’ spreadsheet for 2008 WAR, Pudge was worth 11 runs on defense. He was worth -7.4 runs on offense. Overall he was still a league average catcher, or close to it anyway. He had a total of 1.9 WAR in 2008. I’m not sure if Pudge’s defense has been as good as it was in 2008 the previous few years, but based on this chart alone, Pudge looks to be a very valuable catcher that is still unsigned. Would he take a back-up role to Soto? How much does he want? Has anybody seen his asking price? He’s 2.0 WAR better than Paul Bako was in 2008 (Bako was -0.1). That’s in part because of playing time, but there’s no doubt Pudge is still a far better catcher than any back-up the Cubs currently have. Thoughts? [UPDATE @ 8:50 AM] Just saw this article on THT: Piazza vs. Bench vs. Pudge.