Actually, the differences between Nolan Ryan finishing his career with the Rangers and Pudge most likely finishing his with Houston are greater than the similarities.

Ryan still had a number of good seasons left to pitch, which allowed him to reach strikeout and no-hitter milestones as a Ranger. The Astros mistakenly believed that his hamstring issues were about to end his career.

Ryan also went directly from Houston to Texas in those winter meetings.

Pudge left Arlington six years ago.

Rangers fans have seen the franchise's best catcher win a World Series in Florida and play in a World Series as a Detroit Tiger. They even had to watch him come to the Ballpark as a hated Yankee a year ago.

The distance between his time as a Ranger and an Astro, plus the Rangers' depth at catcher, doesn't lead one to think this will be a painful experience for Rangers fans when the team plays its annual summer series with Houston.

But I would contend that while Ryan was clearly the most popular Astro at the time - maybe Craig Biggio has surpassed him now - Pudge is the Rangers' all-time fan favorite.

Three others have won MVP awards as Rangers - Jeff Burroughs, Juan Gonzalez and Alex Rodriguez - but none of those players (especially A-Rod) had the kind of fan appeal Pudge enjoyed when he was a nine-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner as a Ranger.

I suspect that when Rodriguez goes to Cooperstown, it will be as a Ranger.

Yes, I believe Pudge is still Hall of Fame-bound, even if a cloud of steroid use hangs over his days in Texas.

Pudge has never tested positive to anyone's knowledge. The only suspicions come from Jose Canseco's first book, which mentioned him as a steroids user, and a rather obvious weight loss in Detroit when Major League Baseball began testing for banned substances in 2004.

Most of the players "outed" by Canseco have turned out to be steroids users. Playing in the same clubhouse with Canseco, Gonzalez and Rafael Palmeiro, it's easy to guess that at some point Pudge probably was a user.

Pudge's power numbers did spike considerably in the late '90s. He averaged 29 home runs from 1999 through 2001, with a high of 35 in '99, when he won the AL MVP. He had never hit more than 21 in a season before and hasn't hit 20 since.

But I think his skills behind the plate are what make him a Hall of Fame candidate to begin with. He had them when he arrived in Arlington in 1991. It's hard for me to think he was using steroids then or that they elevated the quickness of his throwing arm throughout his career.

His 13 Gold Glove awards - second to Baltimore third baseman Brooks Robinson among position players - should make him Cooperstown-bound in a few years.

Pudge is supposed to make his spring-training debut for the Astros today. I'm not sure what Houston will get out of him in his 19th major league season, but he did look good for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic.

In fact, in landing a one-year, $1.5 million contract from the Astros, Pudge probably got more out of the tournament than the winning team will get at Dodger Stadium on Monday night.