http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080116/SPORTS02/80116034

You are all going to be pissed. I will leave now.

Re: Nate gets a huge deal.


...why?

Seems rich.

At least year one is reasonable.

IT'S GUM TIME!!

I'm not super-pissed or anything, it's not like it's 5-6 years.

He's a solid innings-eater. He's never going to be top of the rotation, but if he stays healthy he'll be a good #4 for us for the next 3 years, and did you notice only the first two years are guaranteed?

If Illich wants to spend the money, then go for it. It's not my money, and there is no cap. Good for him.

If Carlos Silva's getting 4 years/$48 Million deals, having a player like Nate at a locked in price could make him potential trade bait as well.

^ thats what I was thinking too, Vinny.

A lefty pitcher can be sold fairly easily. Or like Maroth..."Here ya go, take him and his salary, we'll take a ptbnl". I think that was Maroth we pretty much gave away. I'm not saying immediately but if down the road we don't need him, bah bye.

Given the current market for pitchers, seems like a fair deal to me.

Mixed feelings. It's a lot of money, and I was hoping he would be done soon. Eating innings is a plus and it could be worse (ie some horrible justification to use Grilli more often).
He's better than 20 other 5th starters, so that's ok.

the cupboard is somewhat bare when it comes to starting pitching in the Tiger's field system, so to lock up all of the starters like they've done is very smart

he can be frustrating but I've always liked Nate.....only Tiger to live in Michigan all year round

Yeah, I'm coming around more and more on this deal.
He's a great guy in the clubhouse, and, of course, that's the intangible that adds $3 million per year. So really, if that's $9 mill over the life of the contract it means we're only paying $4 million per year for actual pitching. MASSIVE bargain!

Also, Tigers just signed Thames. 1 year, $1.275 million.
Nice versatility.
If Inge indeed sticks around, this pretty much means Raburn is AAA for the start of the season.

Got all the deals out of the way before arbitration.
Not only Cabrera's deal, but Seay got 780,000 as well.

I didn't read up on anything or anything like that, but I would imagine DD would open up long term negotiations in the very near future.