The Tigers are considering Johnny Damon for their designated hitter job and the interest is mutual. The 38-year-old free agent is open to returning to Detroit, where he played in 2010, tweets John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press.
"I have interest knowing that I loved playing there and they are a team built to win," Damon said.
Damon is just 277 career hits away from the 3,000 hit milestone. He hit .261/.326/.418 with 16 homers and 29 doubles in 582 plate appearances as the Rays' DH in 2011. Relative to the league as a whole, he hit well (110 OPS+), but DHs averaged a better batting line this past season: .265/.340/.429. The Scott Boras client has played in at least 140 games every season since 1996. I examined Damon's free agent stock in November, concluding that another modest one-year deal is likely.
The Tigers are on the lookout for DH help and seem to be especially intrigued by left-handed bats, like Damon. The club has also been linked to left-handed hitting free agents Juan Pierre, Raul Ibanez and Hideki Matsui.
