The New York Yankees announced today that the have acquired catcher Ivan Rodriguez from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for right-handed reliever Kyle Farnsworth.

Rodriguez, 36, was batting .295 (89-for-302) with 16 doubles, 3 triples, 5 home runs and 32 RBI in 82 games (79 starts at catcher) with the Detroit Tigers this season. Over his last 30 games, since June 10, he is batting .382 (42-for-110) with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 4 home runs and 11 RBI.

With this trade, the Yankees addressed their need at catcher, with Jorge Posada out for the season, but they subtract one of there best bullpen arms. The Yankees are putting a lot of faith into there young relief pitchers, and hoping Damaso Marte and Mariano Rivera can hold down the eighth and ninth innings.

Farnsworth, 32, was having his best season out of the bullpen for the Yankees, after struggling his first two seasons. Through 45 games with the Yankees this season, he has 1-2 record with a 3.65 era. He has also struck out 43 batters in 44.1 innings this season. The alarming stat on Farnsworth this season is the 11 home runs he has gave up this year.

This will be his second stint with Tigers.

For now, it looks like Brandon Inge will return to the posistion he came up as, and will see the bulk of the starts at catcher for the Tigers the remainder of the season. Inge has played 24 games this year at catcher, and 22 of those have been starts. He was the Tigers primary catcher from 2001-2003 before moving to third base then the outfield.