The Tigers' rotation hasn't been considered a major concern, with Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Doug Fister, and Rick Porcello under team control through at least 2014 and top prospect Jacob Turner waiting in the wings. However, they're one of the many clubs inquiring on free agent lefty Mark Buehrle, reports Lynn Henning of the Detroit News.
The Tigers are familiar with Buehrle, since he made 34 career starts against them as a member of the White Sox. In Henning's opinion, signing him would allow the Tigers to use young pitching as trade bait. The number of reported Buehrle suitors reaches 14 if you include the Tigers, though the White Sox and Cardinals were part of that Jim Bowden tweet and those clubs are not considered likely.
Elsewhere on the free agent front, Henning says the Tigers have been following Yoenis Cespedes for years. Tigers vice president and director of amateur scouting David Chadd admits Cespdes is a "five-tool player." In a more speculative sense, Henning thinks Kelly Johnson and Octavio Dotel may be Tigers targets. The Tigers are known to have spoken with Aramis Ramirez's agent this month.
Wouldn’t they prefer to invest their money on trying to develop a fully grown clone of Verlander?
Or maybe there trying to win a championship? Since with Buerhle and Verlander on the same rotation they will kill everyone lol
And in other news; The Tigers seem to be in on just about everybody. That is all…
Or, you know, just Buehrle and Ramirez.
“inquiring” is a long way away from “acquiring”
But it’s where signings start.
Makes sense if they are going to trade Turner plus a prospect for a 3B with low cost and years like Chase Headley or buy low on someone like Pedro Alverez.
I would not give up Turner for Headley or Alvarez. I’d give up Oliver and other pieces, but not Turner.
Headley had a .864 OPS and 18 2B’s away from Petco last season, and i wasnt suggesting they trade Turner for Alverez.
That’s fine, he’s not worth the upside of Turner — neither are. You can get a better player else where for Turner. You don’t give him up for a decent, at best, 3B.
Turner isn’t going anywhere besides Toledo and Detroit. The Tigers have to believe by now he has a higher ceiling than Porcello who I think would have more success in the NL. They will make their moves this off-season without Turner unless it’s for an absolute stud (i.e. Ryan Zimmerman) and use Porcello in a trade before the deadline if Turner is ready for a major league role.
Absolutely. Could not agree more.
If they wouldn’t trade Turner for Jimenez they certainly aren’t going to for an average 3rd baseman.
The article in the post even says that if they signed Buerhle they may turn around and trade him once Turner is ready.
Cost control like Headley, if they are going to spend on Buerhle they need a cheap effective option at third.
You can get cost control much cheaper than your top prospect in your ball club. It doesn’t make sense. The only 3B I can see the Tigers considering giving up Turner for is Wright, but that should not — and better not — happen.
If they want to go cheap at third they’ll stick with the Inge / Kelly platoon. That’s most likely what they’re going to do anyway.
Their real hole is at 2nd base. But they’re still not going to trade their best prospect for one, unless they’re getting a real difference maker.
That makes no sense at all. The Tigers have a 3b prospect in Nick Castellanos, who is on track to battle for the job in two or three years. We have Kelly already under contract as well as Inge. If Detroit reaches out of the organization at all for a 3b it will be for ramirez, and I’m not convinced that will happen. I’ve read that you aren’t suggesting the Tigers make these moves, and I don’t think anyone else will suggest them either. 2b, relief pitching and Cespedes are the Tigers primary targets, not necessarily in that order.
That brings me to my response to this article, which is I hope Detroit addresses other needs first.
They can give us Scherzer for Alvarez, he’s starting to get a little pricey :)
Really? I think we would do that in a heartbeat.
Oh Lynn Henning you continue to prove why you are the worst sports writer in Detroit. I went to school with his kid and this guy was always around.
To say the tigers should sign him so they can trade their young pitching is beyond ridiculous. The tigers need rotation depth, too much SP is NEVER a bad thing.
turner needs to start the season in the minors anyways.
Agreed. Give him an entire year at AAA and see how he does. He wasn’t terrible when he had his few starts up here, but he did show he could work on a few things before being a permanent fixture in that rotation.
Yea, his numbers at AAA werent even great. He needs a full season there.
I also heard that their talking to every player on the Cardinals roster!
I don’t get it.?
What don’t you get? Every day I read on here or other sites that my team is talking to 10 different bums. I was being sarcastic saying that instead of talking to bums they should be talking to every cardinal player so Detroit can win a world series.
You must be happy then that Laird was re-signed as a former WS winning cardinal.
Funny, I contend that laird had absolutely nothing to do with it which is exactly why Detroit would sign him back!
Why hasnt their rotation brought up concern, it’s not like it was great last year.
Porcello isnt throwing as hard as they thought, he was supposed to be a constant 95 with a 92 93 sinker and a decent change up. All three pitches have been too close together speed wize. Jacob Turner is worse than Porcello. Hes just not a first round pick period. We need a lefty starter and Andy Oliver isn’t going to cut it. He’s wild.
Jacob Turner had a 3.14 K/BB ratio last year, including 20 Ks and 3 BBs at AAA… and he’s only 20 years old. I know that’s just one stat to look at, but I don’t see where you can justify the statements you’ve made.
You just justifed it for me. TRIPLE A dude. I watched every start he made up north. He doesn’t have the power arm to compensate for his off seed pitches period. He needs 2 to 3 years in the minors. He’s trade bait, that’s why they brought him up to begin with but nobody bought it.
A good chunk of innings in the Tigers rotation came from Penny, Coke, Turner, and a couple other scrubs who got starts before the Tigers acquired Fister. The reason the rotation is not a big concern, outside of the #5 slot, is:
– Verlander
– Fister gave up 5 ER in 70.1 IP as a Tiger in August/September
– Scherzer made some strides last year despite an ERA that appears he’s better suited as a #4 guy (BB/9 down from 3.22 to 2.58 mostly, though K/9 did fall as well, his K/BB rose from 2.63 to 3.11). His SIERA last year was the best of his career and he’s still only 27 and entering his fourth year in the bigs.
– Porcello shows streaks of brilliance at times but remains wildly inconsistent (xFIP by month of 2011 season: 3.47, 4.92, 4.86, 3.60 3.71, 3.84), despite this still posted the best SIERA of his career as well and he’s still only 22 (23 entering 2012 season). He’s not asked to be the ace of the staff, he’s asked to be a #4 guy on next year’s rotation. Those are perfectly fine numbers for a #4 if you ask me.
The combined age of their top 4 starting pitchers entering 2012 is 26.75, and it’s reasonable to think that every one of them is still improving. That is why there isn’t much concern over the rotation.
Didn’t Buerhle say something like that he would retire if he didn’t resign with the White Sox or sign with a competitive NL-team? I wonder how much of that still stands when the offers are coming in?
I don’t expect him to sign with the Tigers given his love for the White Sox. On the other hand, it would be great if he is added to the Tigers rotation.
If some team wants to give Ramirez three years $40M, he won’t be a Tiger. His track record suggests he would probably play 300 games in the next three years, with ever declining defense.
But power doesn’t tend to fade with age. He would likely hit 25 plus HR each of the next two years in any reasonable park, and Comerica isn’t terrible for hitters.
So DD should wait until February, let Ramirez (hopefully) have no foolish suitors, and swoop in and sign him for 2 years, $24M. In other words, Carlos Guillen money
.That keeps third base warm for Castellanos, too.
Test
This really wouldn’t make sense for Detroit unless they trade Scherzer or Porcello, both of whom can fetch a decent haul, even though I think Porcello is overrated. They need to really focus on 3B, they have three very solid starters and Porcello is still a good back end guy.
Wish the tigers would have got Jose Molina instead of Laird. Buehrle would be a nice addition but if they trade Turner a number of bad very bad things would happen including the likelyhood of resigning Verlander and Fister once their contracts are up. The tigers are in position to have very good pitching for very long time. Pitchers tend to sign with teams that are very deep with pitching.
This post makes me nauseous
Wouldn’t be surprised if they took Buherle, Dotel, Cespedes and Ramriez. They are a really good team needing to fill some holes. They have about a 3 year window of really getting after it. Ilitch has the cash and he will spend it. He said he has no issue on raising payroll this year for a couple impact bats. Which I am wondering why no one has really talked about them until now for landing spots for FA’s?
Ilitch understands you got to pay to play with the big boys these days and it’s an arms race. I expect the Tigers to be very active at the meetings and are coming with a brinks truck. They could be the AL favourite by the time spring training starts.
Lets hope so!
Buehrle will be a Cardinal or a White Sock in 2012. This is a man who does not play for a check.
Buehrle plays for free?
If he doesn’t play for a check, then why wouldn’t he sign with Detroit? Who doesn’t want to pitch alongside the best pitcher in baseball right now?
I wouldnt mind signing Buerhle. Dependable, 200 inning horse. Good health history and a lefty. I also wouldnt mind trading Porcello. Scherzer, if he continues to get better is a great number 2-3 to go along with Verlander and Fister. Porcello could grab some nice prospects.
Sounds like the Tigers are doing their due diligence on Buerhle, to me.