According to the AP, the Tigers signed outfielder Timo Perez to a minor league deal. Perez, 32 in April, spent all of ’08 with the Tigers’ Triple A club. He hit .302/.374/.473 in 112 games.
Tigers Rumors
Polanco Enters Contract Year
Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press takes a look at the Placido Polanco situation. The Tigers second baseman is entering the last year of a four-year deal, and GM Dave Dombrowski does not seem in a hurry to lock up the 33 year-old. Morosi says much remains to be seen – Polanco’s ’09 performance, the Tigers’ projected payroll, and the possible emergence of second base prospects.
Polanco hit .307/.350/.417 in 629 plate appearances last year while playing excellent defense. He earned $4.6MM; FanGraphs valued him at $10MM more than that. Other prominent free agent second basemen for the 2009-10 offseason: Mark DeRosa, Felipe Lopez, Brian Roberts, and Freddy Sanchez.
Kenny Rogers May Retire
44 year-old southpaw Kenny Rogers posted a 5.70 ERA in 173.6 innings last year while earning $8MM. What’s the plan for 2009?
We touched on it briefly Saturday – Tigers pitching coach Rick Knapp said Rogers is retired, based on a November conversation. Knapp backed off a bit in other comments, while GM Dave Dombrowski doesn’t believe Rogers is close to signing with any club.
Odds And Ends: Rogers, Dodgers, Pettitte, Sheets
A few links for Saturday night…
- Kenny Rogers may be leaning toward retirement.
- Sarah D. Morris shares her thoughts on the Dodgers’ offseason thus far.
- SI.com’s Jon Heyman comments on the Yankees’ interest in Andy Pettitte and Ben Sheets.
Brandon Lyon To Sign With Tigers
12:34pm: The AP reports that the deal pays Lyon $4.25MM in guaranteed money, but could be worth up to $500K more.
11:09am: The AP reports the Tigers announced the deal at TigerFest.
SATURDAY, 8:44am: MLB.com’s Jason Beck also hears from an industry source that Lyon’s nearing a one year deal with the Tigers. Beck expects an official announcement this morning at TigerFest.
FRIDAY, 8:30am: Lyon’s agent Barry Meister says, "We continue to work through it. Everything is moving forward." Lyon is at home in Utah currently.
THURSDAY, 9:04pm: Ken Rosenthal heard from a major league source that Lyon’s close to a one year deal worth just under $5MM with the Tigers. The deal includes incentives.
3:47pm: Jon Paul Morosi takes it a step further, saying the Tigers are "nearing an agreement on a multiyear contract" with Lyon. The 29 year-old righty started strong with a 1.64 ERA through May, but posted a 6.51 mark thereafter. He lost the D’Backs’ closer job to Chad Qualls in September.
3:27pm: According to MLB.com’s Jason Beck, Brandon Lyon is down to two teams and may reach an agreement by Friday. Beck says the Tigers are one of the two and appear to be in the lead. According to Ken Rosenthal, the Cardinals are the other contender. I guess that means the Twins are out.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Pirates, Rays, Pettitte, Cubs, Dodgers, Gomes, Mauer, Cruz
On this date 28 years ago, the Red Sox traded Fred Lynn to the California Angels for Frank Tanana and Joe Rudi. After six seasons that included an MVP and six all-star appearances, the Red Sox were forced to trade Lynn when the front office failed to mail a new contract to Lynn by the mandated deadline. Without the new contract, Boston was faced with the possibility that Lynn would be declared a free agent (Carlton Fisk was declared a free agent for the same reason). The player’s association dropped their case when Lynn agreed to a contract extension with the Angels. With many of this year’s free agent class still waiting for contracts to be mailed, let’s take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…
- Bucco Blog sees an Adam LaRoche-Jonathan Sanchez trade as a "win-win deal."
- DRays Bay would like to see the Tigers take either Troy Percival or Dan Wheeler off the Rays’ hands.
- Mets Geek makes a case for the Mets signing Andy Pettitte.
- Goat Riders of the Apocalypse are not worried that the Cubs have traded away yet another former top prospect.
- Center Field isn’t buying that Jason Varitek didn’t know about the draft pick compensation as a result of his refusing arbitration.
- Her Rays isn’t taking the loss of Rocco Baldelli well at all.
- Dodger Thoughts doesn’t understand why the Dodgers keep spending money on veteran, offensively-challenged backup catchers that will never play.
- Anaheim Angels all the way says the Reds replaced "90% of Adam Dunn" with Jonny Gomes and a very favorable contract. On Baseball and the Reds is not sure Gomes’ offense will offset his horrible defense and sees him as a decent platoon option.
- UmpBump grades the Rays offseason favorably.
- El Lefty Malo laments the contract of Dave Roberts and feels he is the type of player that would be forced to retire if he were a free agent this off-season.
- Twins Geek speculates on what it would take to sign Joe Mauer to a long-term deal.
- Bullpen Call sees only the Mets and Yankees as options for Juan Cruz.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here.
Tigers To Sign Scott Williamson
According to Danny Knobler, reliever Scott Williamson is close to a minor league deal with the Tigers. Knobler says the Brewers also had interest in Williamson, who pitched in Triple A for the Braves and Mariners last year. You have to look back to a 28.6 inning stint with Boston in ’04 to find his last big league success.
Odds and Ends: Prospects, Schilling, Elarton
Links for Thursday…
- Jon Paul Morosi estimates the Tigers’ 2009 payroll at $126.6MM. They were at $137.7 on Opening Day 2008.
- ESPN’s Keith Law ranks the top 100 prospects, with Matt Wieters, David Price, and Jason Heyward topping the list.
- Jack Curry emailed Curt Schilling, learning that the pitcher has been working out for three weeks but hasn’t decided whether to play in ’09.
- Free agent hurler Scott Elarton is also undecided (hat tip to BBTF).
- RotoAuthority wonders if Kenshin Kawakami is a fantasy baseball sleeper.
- Patrick Newman profiles new Cub Ken Kadokura.
- As expected, Oscar Salazar was designated to make room for Gregg Zaun.
Tigers Not Showing Interest In Joe Beimel
According to Steve Kornacki of MLive.com, the Tigers are not showing any interest in free agent left-hander Joe Beimel.
"Detroit’s absence of communication since the winter meetings (six weeks ago in Las Vegas) leads me to believe they are not interested," Beimel’s agent, Joe Sroba, said Wednesday.
The Tigers claim to be in the hunt for quality arms, so it’s a bit strange that they aren’t tyring to contact a guy like Beimel. He was 5-1 with a 2.02 ERA for the Dodgers last season and proved to be more than a lefty specialist after holding right-handed hitters to a .263 batting average in 95 encounters. Lefties hit .278 against him over 90 at-bats.
Tigers Not Done Dealing
9:16pm: Lynn Henning of The Detroit News has provided us some relevant quotes from Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski. He’s optimistic that his club will be able to add some arms this offseason.
"Sometimes you go after high-profile guys, and sometimes you try and get not-so-high-profile guys," Dombrowski said Wednesday. We’ve been trying to do both… I don’t think there’s a dominant-type guy out there. No Joe Nathans or K-Rods. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we added a couple of guys."
6:02pm: Tigers manager Jim Leyland told Tom Gage of the Detroit News Wednesday that his club is not done seeking bullpen help.
"I don’t think we’re done tinkering with the bullpen yet," said Leyland. "I think people might be surprised by what happens before spring training or during spring training. We’ll get some things done that will upgrade our club. We’re not done yet."
As it stands, Fernando Rodney appears to be the team’s strongest ninth-inning option. Brandon Lyon, Chad Cordero, Joe Borowski, Jason Isringhausen and Luis Ayala are among the remaning free agent pitchers with closing experience.
