Ivan Rodriguez turns 31 years old in a few days, he still possesses his rocket arm, he's hit .300 or better at a premium defensive position for eight straight years ... and yet ... there seems to be little interest from teams signing him as a free agent. The Rangers are unlikely to offer him salary arbitration, meaning his career with the team will end.

Rodriguez, of course, has missed significant time the past three years with various injuries since winning the American League MVP Award in 1999. Despite that missed playing time, Rodriguez is fourth all time in games caught through age 30:

1. Johnny Bench, 1,498
2. Ray Schalk, 1,445
3. Ted Simmons, 1,439
4. Ivan Rodriguez, 1,426
5. Gary Carter, 1,257

For teams considering signing Pudge to, say, a three- or four-year deal, Bench's rapid decline after age 30 is a worst-case scenario of what can happen to a catcher who has caught a lot of games at a young age. Bench played just 239 more games at catcher past the age of 30.

In fact, of the top 20 players with the most games caught through age 30, only two (Carter and Jim Sundberg) rank in the top 20 in games caught from age 31 onward. That doesn't necessarily mean signing Rodriguez is a bad idea; it just means signing him to a deal longer than three or four years is a risky move.

Besides Rodriguez's health, the other question is whether he'll maintain his high offensive production. Instead of comparing him to the other 19 guys with the most games caught, let's compare Pudge to some of the other best-hitting catchers since 1950, by looking at production from ages 27-30 and how they did from ages 31-34.

Player            Age   Games  OPS  LgOPS   Rate
Johnny Bench     27-30   539   836   715   +16.9%
Johnny Bench     31-34   415   794   726   + 9.4%


Yogi Berra       27-30   577   848   745   +13.8%
Yogi Berra       31-34   527   822   745   +10.3%


Carlton Fisk     27-30   522   853   715   +19.3%
Carlton Fisk     31-34   453   761   721   + 5.5%


Gary Carter      27-30   558   827   718   +15.2%
Gary Carter      31-34   550   747   732   + 2.0%


Ted Simmons      27-30   570   889   729   +21.9%
Ted Simmons      31-34   522   702   718   - 2.3%


Roy Campanella   27-30   527   899   747   +20.3%
Roy Campanella   31-34   502   864   753   +14.7%


Mike Piazza      27-30   592   988   777   +27.2%
Mike Piazza      31-33   412   957   769   +24.4%


Bill Freehan     27-30   519   777   712   + 9.1%
Bill Freehan     31-34   431   725   708   + 2.4%

All eight of these All-Star catchers had dropoffs in production when comparing their OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) to the league average OPS, and many were significant. All of them played fewer games in the ensuing four-year span (Mike Piazza's age 34 season will be 2003).

So, you have a catcher who has carried a heavy load throughout his career, has been injured in recent seasons and is unlikely to match the offense he produced a few seasons ago.

Again, that doesn't mean Rodriguez is a bad player. He remains a terrific hitter for a catcher, when healthy. But signing him and expecting to play he like he did in 1999 would be a huge mistake.

(Thanks to Lee Sinins' baseball encyclopedia for help on the research.)

David Schoenfield is the baseball editor at ESPN.com.