10:34am: The Tigers are on the verge of signing Gerald Laird, according to Morosi and Rosenthal on Twitter.
10:23am: The Tigers aren't close to a deal with Shoppach, according to MLB.com's Jason Beck (on Twitter).
10:04am: The Tigers are close to signing a catcher, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (on Twitter). Free agent Kelly Shoppach is one of the team's targets and Morosi reported earlier in the week that the Tigers are considering Jose Molina, Matt Treanor, Ramon Castro and former Tiger Gerald Laird as possible backups.
Alex Avila will start for the Tigers, who want Victor Martinez's bat in the lineup every day. GM Dave Dombrowski has said the Tigers view Martinez as the team's regular DH and third catcher, which means the team is on the hunt for someone who can spell Avila regularly.
I was hoping to get Doumit to be our back up C/1B/RF, but I guess that was a little bit of wishful thinking.
Considering Doumit is a horrible catcher and cannot stay healthy, I hope not.
He would be a utility back up and if hes injured we still have v mart if need be.
Jose Molina for 6/$90mm.
That’s all? He would certainly get more elsewhere!
That’s outlandish.
Surely it isn’t. The guy has intangibles; he can call a game like no other. Plus, he’d be a great mentor for Avila.
Completely insane to spend 15 million on a backup catcher. Yadier isn’t even worth 15 million. And he is currently the best of the bunch.
honest to god he was kidding, i know it’s hard to pick up sarcasm on the internet but seriously bro
Seriously bro!
hahaha better be sarcasm.
Could we see a Pudge reunion?
sounds good to me…
Bet its Laird. I think he played for them before. The Cards are going to use Cruz. Or Anderson.
Or are we not talking about backup catchers?
shoppach can play some defense that is for sure.
I wish the Orioles made the first move here, but alas that is the case here again.
Maybe, the Orioles will sign away Santiago from you guys and make Lefty happy! =P
PS ECB wherever you are since the Orioles declared that they will only sign pitchers to deals three years or less. So I am thinking Chris Capuano is a possibility. What do you think? =P
Wait…. so you’re saying you actually WANTED Laird on your team? hmm…
No, when I first posted it was Shoppach
I don’t even know who Laird is! LOL
Actually, I do….but
haha oh man… that makes sense. I was gunna say…
Please get molina, I want a WS ring!
“10:34am: The Tigers are on the verge of signing Gerald Laird, according to Morosi and Rosenthal on Twitter.”
It’s like 2010 all over again!
Except they aren’t in La-la Land believing he can be an every day option. Laird is ok as a backup.
damn it…
NOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now that I got that out of the way, this move is fine with me. Backup catcher who can play defense and knows our pitchers…. no biggie.
Totally agreed. He’s just fine as a 2nd backstop. It’s not like he’s gonna play more than once a week.
He did well covering for Molina last season. He still guns out thieves.
Yep. And he’s a good clubhouse guy. He’s just fine on the bench four out of five days. This would be a quality signing for Detroit, granted they don’t spend too much.
He’s a good clubhouse guy now that Armando G is gone. Lets hope he doesn’t start a fight with another pitcher or tries to attend a Pistons game or something
Him and Yadi got into it during the season.
Good. Gives the Cruz a spot on the Card’s roster next year. The only thing I liked about LAiRD was his personality.
I’m not sure the job goes to Cruz. Matheny is high on Anderson.
Other than catcher, Cruz can play Right, Left, 1st, 3rd and he even played a game at 2nd. He is way to versatile to not be on the roster.
I don’t know a ton of clubs that base their backup catcher decision on versatility. He may very well very well end up being the backup catcher, but I’m not sure that will be the deciding factor.
He hit .262 didn’t make an error in the 20 games he caught. It’s a small sample size but he is a solid backup catcher. The fact he can play a few other positions it an added bonus.
No Laird. GTFO.
FAIL! They would have been better off with just about any of the other options out there.
Really? I am sure Kevin Cash is hiding around in the wood work somewhere. That makes at least 1 all defense and worse offensive catcher Laird is better than, though not by much.
Laird did a good job teaching his craft to avilla. We know he can’t hit for crap, but he’s a viable back-up. His defense is solid and should be gotten on the cheap. As long as he’s not the every day catcher, I like him just fine and I don’t think he’s going to challenging avilla for the starting role. This is a needed pickup for Detroit and of they sign laird, I won’t be upset…unless of course they give him a retarded sum of money.
ugh. at least we know don’t need to rely on him to do much.
I was hopin Shoppach, this is kinda the safe no-risk move that will give mediocre results. But its back up catcher so, whatev.
At the end of the day Aliva needs days off, he was so over worked, come playoff time he was damaged goods. G-money will hold down the fort on his days off, plus he is good for the club house.