The Tigers had already locked up Brandon Inge, Jhonny Peralta, Joaquin Benoit and Victor Martinez by November 23rd of last year. Here’s the latest on the team as they start the current offseason more quietly…
- The Tigers seem to believe they can find help via trades, tweets Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com. The club has given up a lot in the past but they are willing to deal anyone but their top minor league prospects.
- Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski told John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press that the Tigers didn’t offer contracts to Mark Ellis, Jamey Carroll or Aaron Hill, three middle infielders who recently signed two-year deals. Should the Tigers pursue free agent middle infielders such as Clint Barmes or Kelly Johnson, they’d likely be looking at a two-year commitment given the deals we’ve seen so far and the number of teams with openings at second or short.
- The Tigers are considering Jose Molina, Matt Treanor, Ramon Castro and former Tiger Gerald Laird as possible backup catchers, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (on Twitter). All four backstops are free agents who could give Alex Avila an occasional breather while keeping Martinez’s knees fresh so he can contribute on offense.
Oh no, Laird?
G-Money coming back? I don’t know if I like that one…
Nooooooooooo
“Oh no, Laird?”
The only catcher around who makes varitek look like a batting champ, then at least Laird can throw…
Tigers don’t want to give out a 2 year deal for a utility infielder, I hear Billy Hall is slumming around somewhere and could probably be had for a song.. Have fun watching him K all the time if they get him however.
Please God Ramon Castro
NOT GERALD LARD!!!
Those are our backup catcher options? Man, I miss the days of juicing…
You guys can have Lard back, Cards will take the Molina brothers
Dombrowski wasn’t thrilled about having a guy just sitting around waiting to back up Avila knowing Victor can catch. If they pick up somebody it should be someone like Jake Fox who can catch and play other positions. The problem is Fox is probably looking for more money and playing time than the Tigres have for him.
I would caution getting about getting too excited about who the backup catcher is going to be. Not good for your blood pressure and it’s not like he’s going to get a ton of at bats. Get someone who can play some solid defense and spend your money on someone who actually going to play.
I also don’t see what people see in Barmes. He plays OK defense but pretty much all of his offensive value is that he has a little power but all of his numbers have been put up in Coors or Minute Made which will mean that about half of those home runs are going to be turned in to fly outs in Comerica. I would much rather have Johnson plus an outfielder who could hit leadoff (Sizemore on an incentive laden contract or maybe DeJesus) and a decent back of the order starter plus maybe a reclamation project with another incentive laden contract to compete with Porcello in case he doesn’t show any signs of progressing (which I’m not convinced he will)
Please someone sign Molina before the arb deadline. I would love for the Jays to score a guaranteed comp pick for their back-up catcher.
what would you guys be willing to give for scott sizemore? 😉 sorry had to haha
Kelly Shoppach has some interesting splits- he hit lefties very well, but absolutely reeked against RHP’s.   Since he’d be strictly a backup and starting almost always against lefties, he might be a fit.
I would not give up a first round pick for Kelly Johnson, but I’d have him on a two year deal if either the Jays did not offer arbitration (they will- or why did they trade for him?) or if the new CBA does away with compensation for Type A players and it goes into effect immediately. Otherwise, Santiago is as good as any other free agent 2B.  By trade, I like Maicer Izturis, Ben Zobrist, or Martin Prado if a deal can be worked out for them.
The Tigers should offer arbitration to Betemit also.  An Inge/ Kelly platoon is inadequate at third.  Detroit needs two players that can get on base at a .350 pace for the top of the order, and that can field their positions at 2B and 3B.  Betemit’s defense leaves much to be desired, but he is offensively the best 3B on the FA market after A Ram.Â
 I don’t understand why they gave up on putting Martinez behind the plate once a week or so? They essentially paid 50M for a DH with meh power and good pure hitting ability. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s a very good player, but he had much more value behind the plate.
Victor had knee pain for most of the year, they dont want to risk losing his bat in the lineup (reason they wanted him)
The problem with signing Laird is that Smokes Leyland will over use him. Leave it to Leyland to identify the weakest links in the Tiger roster and then continue to play those weak links in critical spots in the game. The only way the Tigers will ever win a World Series with tarlung Leyland is if the entire roster is Leyland proof. Leyland is the most overrated manager in baseball ——- period. If you watch him on a daily basis, your head will be bleeding because you will be scratching it so often, trying to figure why the old guy just made the move he did. Leyland is the manager who led the 2008 $139 million dollar payroll to last place, behind the Kansas City Royals for Gawd Sakes.
Wait Treanor and Laird were former Tigers, though Treanor didn’t play much, they were both former Tigers. With that said, I think that bringing in former Indians is interesting. The Tigers already have Peralta and V-mart and now I have heard talk about them going after Shoppach and Sizemore. Don’t get me wrong I think it would be a good idea to bring these two in but only if they can trade for Prado. I think if the Tigers did trade Young, Oliver, Crosby and a PTBNL for Venters and Prado that would be great.
Would you rather trade prospects for Prado or trade a draft pick for Johnson (which is essentially what you are doing)? When you think of it that way, I may rather sign Johnson. When you do that, you are trading an unknown quantity (draft pick) for a known quantity (Johnson) rather than a known (prospect – who is still unknown I suppose, but less so) for a known (Prado). Yes, your draft pick may turn into an MVP and your prospect may not make the bigs.Â
That being said, the Tigers brass should have a better idea of what a prospect will/won’t become than I do, so I suppose we should trust them w/ whatever decision they make (who knows, maybe they can’t get Prado or Johnson anyway).
As far as a backup catcher, sign Doumit. Then you may be able to carry one less OF, although it looks like he may cost more than $3M.
I guess then they’d be paying Avila’s backup more than Avila. You’re probably going to have that with any backup you sign though. IMO, it would be worth an additional $3M to keep Avila and VMart healthy.