Rogers signs to two-year, $16M with Tigers

Kenny Rogers expects to win with the Detroit Tigers.

"They're an organization that is on the way up," Rogers said Monday after agreeing to a $16 million, two-year contract to pitch for a team that hasn't had a winning record since 1993. "They're going to do everything they can to bring a winner to the community, and I don't think that's in the too distant future."

Rogers, a 41-year-old left-hander, and the Tigers reached a preliminary agreement last week. Detroit hopes the three-time All-Star will be the productive veteran its rotation has lacked.

"It's just what we need," team president Dave Dombrowski said.

Rogers was 14-8 with a 3.46 ERA this year and won a career-high 18 games in 2004 with the Texas Rangers.

"This guy was an All-Star six months ago," new Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "I can't tell you how happy I am about that."

But Rogers is most remembered for a tirade on June 29 in which he shoved two television cameramen while walking onto the field. He was suspended for 20 games, a penalty the players' association appealed. It was reduced to 13 games by an arbitrator.

Rogers realizes when his name is mentioned, his confrontation is, too.

"It doesn't bother me," he insisted. "It's not like the first mistake I've made in my life. I've never professed to being perfect.

"For any fans, I would hope they will see what type of guy I am and make their decisions based on that," he said.

Rogers' major-league career began in 1989, and he has a 190-131 record with a 4.21 ERA with Texas, the Yankees and Mets, Oakland and Minnesota.

Dombrowski said the Tigers evaluated all pitchers available -- via free agency and trades -- and determined Rogers was the best fit.

"We have the person that is the proven winner out of the group," Dombrowski said. "He's won more games than any of the free-agent pitchers out there."

Rogers said as long as his desire to compete is there, he plans to keep pitching.

"The type of pitcher I am now, it lends itself to being consistent," he said. "I do know how to locate. I do know how to pitch and change speeds."

Despite a desperate need for pitching, Texas made no effort to re-sign Rogers, who had three stints with the Rangers, a team that drafted him as a 17-year-old outfielder and turned him into a pitcher.

"Getting away from Texas is something I wanted," Rogers said. "Texas is one of the most difficult parks to pitch in, but I was able to do it and do it pretty well."

Rogers, who replaces Jason Johnson in Detroit's rotation, will lead a staff that includes 23-year-old Jeremy Bonderman and 28-year-olds Mike Maroth and Nate Robertson. Johnson, a free agent, was 16-28 for Detroit the past two seasons.

The Tigers have also taken a step toward improving their bullpen. They added closer Todd Jones last week with an $11 million, two-year deal. The 16-year veteran has 51-52 career record with 226 saves, including 40 last season with the Florida Marlins.

"We've become appreciably better going into next season," Dombrowski said.

The Tigers also reached a preliminary agreement on a $750,000, one-year contract with backup catcher Vance Wilson, who backed up Ivan Rodriguez last season in Detroit.

"I don't think we have a glaring hole from a positional-player perspective," Dombrowski said.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2252575


Tigers reach two-year, $11M deal with Jones

The Detroit Tigers agreed Thursday to an $11 million, two-year contract with free agent Todd Jones, returning the veteran closer to the team he pitched for from 1997-2001.

Jones was 1-5 with a 2.10 ERA and 40 saves last season for the Florida Marlins, then became a free agent.

"Todd is a quality relief pitcher who had a tremendous season in 2005," Tigers president Dave Dombrowski said. "He adds a veteran presence to our bullpen and is the type of individual the organization was looking to fill this role."

The 37-year-old right-hander also has pitched for Houston (1993-96), Minnesota (2001), Colorado (2002-03), Boston (2003), Cincinnati (2004) and Philadelphia (2004). He has a 51-52 record, 3.91 ERA and 226 saves during his career.

Also, Detroit selected Chris Booker from Washington in the winter meeting draft, then dealt the right-handed pitcher to Philadelphia for cash.

Booker was 8-4 with a 2.49 ERA with 20 saves in 59 appearances last season for Triple-A Louisville, Cincinnati's minor-league team. He also pitched in three games for the Reds.

The Tigers also selected right-handed pitcher Eddie Bonine from San Diego in the Triple-A phase of the draft. Bonine pitched at Single-A and Triple-A levels last season. The Los Angeles Angels selected infielder Eric Roland from Detroit's organization.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2252338

Tigers sign Vance Wilson to 1-year deal

The Tigers have reached a preliminary agreement with backup catcher Vance Wilson on a one-year, $750,000 contract.
A $10,000 paycut for Wilson, who hit .197/.275/.283 in 152 at-bats last season.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.asp?leaguenum=&sport=MLB&id=6064


Twins sign veteran White to serve as DH

The Twins have signed free-agent outfielder Rondell White to be their designated hitter, FOXSports.com has learned.

White, 33, will receive a one-year contract worth $3.25 million with a vesting option for 2007. He likely will play the outfield only if one of the Twins' regular outfielders is injured.

White's option will vest only if he reaches 400 plate appearances, a number that will be easily within reach if he stays healthy. Serving as a full-time DH could help him avoid the injuries that have hampered him throughout his career.

The price of the option would depend on White's number of plate appearances, and would be no lower than $3 million. If White reaches 550 plate appearances in each of the two seasons, he will earn a total of $7 million. That sum will increase to $7.75 million if he reaches 600 plate appearances in each season and $8.5 million if he reaches 650 plate appearances both years.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5189218

We would have had the 20th overall pick in the draft had we offered arbitration. :banghead:

So i'm guessing Monroe takes White's spot?

Kenny Baugh traded to San Diego


The Padres acquired right-handed pitcher Kenny Baugh, the 11th player taken in the 2001 draft, from Detroit for right-hander Ricky Steik.

Baugh, 26, was 12-8 with a 3.28 ERA in 28 starts with the Tigers' Triple-A Toledo affiliate last season. Steik, 21, the Padres' seventh-round pick in the 2004 draft, was 0-6 with a 2.40 ERA in 54 relief appearances with Single-A Fort Wayne.

"Baugh replaces (Chris) Oxspring as an insurance starter at the Triple-A level," Padres GM Kevin Towers said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/baseball/20051213-9999-1s13padres.html

This is a good move for Baugh. He may actually get to play in the big leagues now. He has a legitimate shot to not only make their 25 man roster but their rotation as a 5th starter.

For the Tigers, this is nothing but a roster spot dump.

Pena among Tigers tendered contracts


The Tigers tendered contracts to numerous players, including Carlos Pena.

Pena, a first baseman/designated hitter, was eligible for arbitration along with pitchers Jeremy Bondermanand Mike Maroth, outfielder Craig Monroeand third baseman Brandon Inge. They also were tendered contracts.

Pena batted .235 with 18 home runs, 44 RBI and 95 strikeouts in 79 games last season. He was batting .181 with three homers when he was sent to Triple-A Toledo in May. The Tigers recalled him in August.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051221/SPORTS02/512210327/1129/SPORTS0104

Indians close to landing Johnson


The Indians are the front-runner to sign right-hander Jason Johnson, FOXSports.com has learned.

However, Johnson's agent, Tommy Tanzer, says that no deal has been reached, and two other teams remain in negotiations for Johnson.

The Indians' offer is believed to be for $4 million with an option for 2007. Any deal would be contingent on Johnson passing a physical.

The Indians have lost free-agent right-hander Scott Elarton to the Royals and are on the verge of losing free-agent right-hander Kevin Millwood, who is being pursued by the Rangers and Red Sox.

The addition of Johnson, 52-86 lifetime with a 4.88 ERA, will enable the Indians to develop their younger starting pitchers more slowly. Johnson has made 32 or more starts in each of the past three seasons. He was 8-13 for the Tigers last season with a 4.54 ERA.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5193318

I can't figure out for the life of me why we didn't offer arbitration to JJ.

Because arbitration would have guaranteed him $6M+ and, I believe, would have limited our ability to trade him.

Plus he is no better than a fifth starter and we have 5 of those already.

Would have been nice if we could have traded him last July/Aug.

Not a fan of Johnson's at all either. I just didn't like watching him pitch because he took soooooo damn long between pitches, and really was simply unimpressive.

Because arbitration would have guaranteed him $6M+ and, I believe, would have limited our ability to trade him.

Plus he is no better than a fifth starter and we have 5 of those already.

Would have been nice if we could have traded him last July/Aug.

Disagree.

First, he wouldn't have gotten $6M+. The Indians offer was for 4 million with an option for 2007 (Per Rotoworld).

And secondly, we don't have 5 starters. As of right now we have Kenny Rogers, Jeremy Bonderman, Nate Robertson and Mike Maroth with Verlander, Zoom and Colon fighting for the last spot. Are they that much better than Johnson as the 5th starter? Verlander got roughed up in his two starts in Detroit and Zoom still needs to develop his offspeed pitches.

And if Johnson declined arbitration, which would have been likely, we would have gotten a compensation pick (16-30). And if he did accept arbitration, it would only be a 1 year deal and we wouldn't have to rely on a rookie as our 5th starter.

At some point, you have to give guys like Verlander/Zumaya/Colon a chance to start and if they fail, try a different one. It does Verlander/Colon no good to spend another year in AAA, and Zumaya only needs one more season there. There is still talk of Zumaya possibly ending up as a closer, but that is just talk.

Verlander hasnt spent a year at AAA and colon actually has gotten some looks in the majors both with Atlanta and Detroit.

If Colon does anything in the spring, he will get the 5th spot and Verlander goes to AA or AAA for some more seasoning and comes up in Sept to get a taste for 2007.

Zumaya has no real chance of making the ML roster in 2006. He will get another full year in AAA to polish himself. Lots of things I hear is, he is destined to be our closer of the future, as they are worried about the fatigue factor with him.

Art

The top priority remaining is 3B. Inge is not good enough to be an everyday player. He's utility. In fact, he should include backup C to his utility responsibilities, because Vance Wilson is about as pathetic as it gets. So we need Inge to back up C and 3B. Logan can back up the OF spots and Infante the middle infield. We need an everyday 3B with fewer errors, at least 10 more HR and about 15 points more batting average.

The pitching rotation is fine now with Rogers. He's easily the most proven starter the Tigers have had since, um, holy crap, probably Michael Moore. Maybe David Wells, but he wasn't exactly proven when he was here. But not Redman, Weaver, Johnson - Rogers is more accomplished than any of them.

Middle relief, fair. Jones, again, better than anything we've had in a while.

So the pitching got dramatically better.
The coaching/managing got much better.
The offense is better is they are healthy.
We're a solid 3B, health, and consistency (should come from the new coaching staff) away from wildcard contention.

If we can get a slugger to DH or play first when Dmitri is done and make sure two of the 3 from the Colon, Verlander, Zumaya group step up to fill that 5th spot and replace Rogers when he's done - and perhaps the third to close when Jones is done, we should be a solid veteran team in a few years. I'm excited to se Maybin. He's been getting serious hype. Not sure how we'll get him in the lineup. Maybe Ordonez will end up being that DH.

Hmm we got the crazy pitcher in Rogers, we got this shit! World Series, here we come

Verlander hasnt spent a year at AAA and colon actually has gotten some looks in the majors both with Atlanta and Detroit.

If Colon does anything in the spring, he will get the 5th spot and Verlander goes to AA or AAA for some more seasoning and comes up in Sept to get a taste for 2007.

Zumaya has no real chance of making the ML roster in 2006. He will get another full year in AAA to polish himself. Lots of things I hear is, he is destined to be our closer of the future, as they are worried about the fatigue factor with him.

Art

The talk of Zumaya being a closer is overblown. He had a very violent delivery when we drafted him and combined with the fact that he throws some serious heat, everybody has him pegged as our future closer. But over the last couple seasons, the Tigers have worked on his delivery and made it effortless.

Zumaya, if and when, called up will be a starter unless he proves he can't handle it. He has proven that he is a starter at every level he played at and I don't see any reason that's going to change now. I actually have Zumaya rated higher than Verlander in my book, but that's just my opinion. I am probably in the minority on that one.

The top priority remaining is 3B. Inge is not good enough to be an everyday player. He's utility. In fact, he should include backup C to his utility responsibilities, because Vance Wilson is about as pathetic as it gets. So we need Inge to back up C and 3B. Logan can back up the OF spots and Infante the middle infield. We need an everyday 3B with fewer errors, at least 10 more HR and about 15 points more batting average.
I don't think Inge will be doing any catching duties because we re-signed Vance Wilson to a 1 year contract. But I do agree that Inge should go back to that super-sub role.


I'm excited to se Maybin. He's been getting serious hype. Not sure how we'll get him in the lineup. Maybe Ordonez will end up being that DH.

Maybin won't be playin in the Majors for atleast another 2 years, probably 3 years. As good as he is, he is still raw and missed significant amount of playing time because he signed late with us.

Here are 3 names to keep in mind from our last draft:

- Jeff Larish
- Clete Thomas
- Kevin Whelan (This is my dark horse candidate to be called up to the Majors at some point during the season. He is our future closer.)

If you read closely, I agree on Maybin. I talked about how we'll need someone in the lineup when Dmitri is done in Detroit. That won't happen for at least one more year. After that, we'll have to wait and see, but I would imagine he'll spend one or two years here after that, unless he decides to take a deal to play with his little brother. If he's gone after this season, look for Ordonez to possibly move to DH for significant time and you'll see Thames in the mix more in the OF, with a 4-man platoon of Monroe, Granderson, Logan and Thames. If a couple of those guys struggle significantly given the playing time and Maybin is tearing up the minors (by then he'll be at Erie), I expect they would be willing to give him a shot. In the short time he did play this season - about 3 weeks - he was very impressive.

Because arbitration would have guaranteed him $6M+ and, I believe, would have limited our ability to trade him.

Plus he is no better than a fifth starter and we have 5 of those already.

Would have been nice if we could have traded him last July/Aug.

Well it's confirmed now.

Johnson signed a one year contract worth $4 million. That just further confuses me as to why we didn't offer arbitration.


Indians get Johnson, lose Millwood

Pitcher Jason Johnson agreed to a $4 million, one-year contract with the Cleveland Indians on Monday, just hours before Kevin Millwood agreed to join the Texas Rangers.

Johnson, a 32-year-old free agent, went 8-13 with a 4.55 ERA in a career-high 210 innings last season for Detroit. The right-hander could earn as much as $11.5 million over two years in a deal that includes a mutual option for 2007.

Johnson and Paul Byrd, signed by the Indians this month, join C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Jake Westbrook in one of the AL's deepest rotations. The newcomers will try to replace Scott Elarton, who signed with Kansas City, and Millwood, still on the market but looking for a five-year deal.

Millwood signed a one-year package with Cleveland last winter that linked his pay to his health. He was plagued by arm problems while in Philadelphia but led the AL in ERA and helped mentor the Indians' young staff.

Indians general manager Mark Shapiro has said since the season ended that it would be a long shot to keep Millwood, who got a $60 million, five-year deal from Texas.

"With him not accepting arbitration and us having five starters under contract, it definitely takes us out of the Kevin Millwood competition at this point," Shapiro said.

With Millwood pricing himself out of Cleveland and Shapiro not wanting to complete the rotation with a young pitcher, the Indians turned to the 6-foot-6 Johnson, who has made at least 32 starts in four of the past five seasons. His contract includes a club option for 2007.

"We always look at dependability and reliability as being two main criteria," Shapiro said. "Beyond being a dependable person, Jason is among the elite in the amount of innings he's provided his teams in recent years."

Those teams, Baltimore and Detroit, have lost an average of 93 games the past five seasons, hurting Johnson's record. He is 52-86 during his nine-year career, which also included stints with losing teams in Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay.

"It's going to be nice to be on a team like this that has a chance to win every time it takes the field," Johnson said. The Indians finished second in the AL Central behind Chicago in 2005.

The biggest obstacles for Johnson have been pitching with diabetes and remaining strong in the second half of the season. Johnson said working out too much after the All-Star break - not his ailment - caused him to wear down before he altered his exercise routine last season.

"It took me seven years to figure out what to do to stay strong the whole year," he said.

Johnson has a $3.5 million salary and the option price will be equal to his 2006 salary, including performance bonuses. He would get the $500,000 buyout if Cleveland declines the option. If the Indians exercise the option and he declines it, he still would get the buyout, unless he pitched fewer than 205 innings in 2006. He can earn $2 million in performance bonuses each year.

He would get $100,000 each for 29 and 31 starts, and $200,000 for 33 starts. He also would get $100,000 each for 175 and 185 innings, $150,000 each for 190 and 195 innings, $200,000 each for 200 and 205 innings, $300,000 for 210 innings and $400,000 for 215 innings.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5197688

What don't you understand?

If we had offerred him arbitration he would have requested at least $6M. We would have countered with about $3M. The Arbitrator would have gone with Johnson and we would have been stuck paying him $6M for being a #5 starter.

He makes a lot of starts and pitches a lot of innings. He would have blamed his ERA on our defense and his record on the rest of the team. Look at the requests made by other starters over the last few years and what they are asking for this year.

We are very lucky that the Tigs didn't offer him arbitration.

No thank you.

What don't you understand?

If we had offerred him arbitration he would have requested at least $6M. We would have countered with about $3M. The Arbitrator would have gone with Johnson and we would have been stuck paying him $6M for being a #5 starter.

He makes a lot of starts and pitches a lot of innings. He would have blamed his ERA on our defense and his record on the rest of the team. Look at the requests made by other starters over the last few years and what they are asking for this year.

We are very lucky that the Tigs didn't offer him arbitration.

No thank you.

I am not sold on the fact that Johnson would have accepted arbitration with us. It well known that neither side wanted him back in Detroit and with the way the FA market was playing out, I think he would have declined arbitration anyway.

Even if he did accept arbitration, it would only be a 1 year deal, probably at around $4 million (5 at most). And we could trade him July and then bring up Verlander or Zumaya.

And considering we didn't have a 2nd rounder last year and none of our DFE's were signed, the supplemental pick would have been helpful. Seems like a win-win situation to me.

I too would have offered Johnson arbitration. First of all, even if he had signed to be the #5 starter, I think the argument could be made that he would be one of the top #5 starters in the league. The rotation would have been quite solid. It may be anyhow, but Colon, Verlander and Zumaya are all still question marks at the big league level. I would like to see those guys get a few months at AAA first. It seems strange to me that this organization often bypasses AAA altogether with their starting pitchers. It's the place where guys go after they've failed in the big leagues (Ledezma).
As H1 said, if they're tearing it up at AAA, trade Johnson or make one of the starters a long-relief guy for a while. If Johnson and the rest of the rotation are all tremendously successful, I think most fans would agree that they would be ok with paying as much as $6 million for a guy that was winning a lot on a team headed for the playoffs. That's a win-win for both sides. I wouldn't mind giving the young guns a full year at AAA at that point.

The whole Johnson thing would have been a gamble, with the potential payoff not matching the risk. Arbitration players almost always get a raise, or at least have their salaries maintained near their current levels, thus it's pretty safe to assume JJ would have gotten somewhere around 6 mill if he went for it.

The deadline to offer arbitration this past year was I believe December 7th, before the market had set itself, so I think it's also safe to assume that Johnson would have accepted arbitration if offered, as he had no reason to think that he could get better elsewhere. Thus there would have been a fairly good chance that we would have been stuck with Johnson at 6 million, which is way too much money.

Now, even if we were reasonably sure that JJ would decline arbitration, it still would not be a good gamble. In deciding what compensation is given for signing another team's free agent, baseball sets up a tiering system based on the previous years' performance of the player in question.

"Type A" players are those that rank in the top 30% of players at their position. "Type B" players rank between 30 and 50% and "Type C" players are between 50 and 60%.

If another team signs your Type A free agent, you get either their 1st or 2nd round pick (if the signing team finished in the top half of MLB win %, you get the first, if in the bottom half, you get the 2nd) plus an additional "sandwich" pick between the 1st and 2nd rounds. If a team signs your "Type B" free agent, you get the 1st or 2nd rounder but not the sandwich pick, and if a team signs your "Type C" free agent, you just get a sandwich pick between the 2nd and 3rd rounds.

In Johnson's case, at the very best he would be considered a Type C free agent, and all we would get is what is essentially a third rounder. There's a pretty good chance, though, that he wouldn't even be considered Type C and we would get no compensation at all. This, combined with the risk that we would have to overpay him, in my opinion makes the arbitration offer a bad gamble.

Vinny, in the house!!!!

Tell it, man!!!

Thank you!

Frickin' Jags. Everyone is here. I love it.

Frickin' Jags. Everyone is here. I love it.

See if you can work on Tap Tap.

He was registered at the original WTF site as "Skut Farkas", but he didn't post as much as he should have.

Frickin' Jags. Everyone is here. I love it.

See if you can work on Tap Tap.

He was registered at the original WTF site as "Skut Farkas", but he didn't post as much as he should have.

Glenn, your av is one of my favorite cds ever....

Glenn, your av is one of my favorite cds ever....

I knew I liked you for a reason.

I'm archiving this because I change avs quite frequently.

Take Warning.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/GlennDanzig/838cb246-8757-4c78-8f76-838204665df.jpg

Ok, back to the Tigers for a moment. I was bored and curious about the kid we got for Baugh. Here's a link to his stats from last year:
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Ricky%20Steik&pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=450296

Got it from the Padres site links. He played Class A ball at Fort Wayne. It looks like he was a set-up guy. He was 0-6 with 3 saves, but had a 2.40 ERA. Struck out 53 in 60 innings, 54 games. Not sure if he'll stay at low A (West Michigan) or move to Lakeland. I suppose if the team thinks highly of him and feels he's ready for the challenge they could start him out at Erie, but I doubt it. He's young, 21, so it appears the team just wanted a healthy arm in the system. It would probably be 3-4 years before we saw him in Detroit, if his career makes it that far. I haven't seen any major hype surrounding him. 7th round pick in 2004. Also, it was just a move they had to make since Baugh was on the 40 man roster and they needed the spot for the other Kenny, Mr Rogers.

Ok, back to the Tigers for a moment. I was bored and curious about the kid we got for Baugh. Here's a link to his stats from last year:
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Ricky%20Steik&pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=450296

Got it from the Padres site links. He played Class A ball at Fort Wayne. It looks like he was a set-up guy. He was 0-6 with 3 saves, but had a 2.40 ERA. Struck out 53 in 60 innings, 54 games. Not sure if he'll stay at low A (West Michigan) or move to Lakeland. I suppose if the team thinks highly of him and feels he's ready for the challenge they could start him out at Erie, but I doubt it. He's young, 21, so it appears the team just wanted a healthy arm in the system. It would probably be 3-4 years before we saw him in Detroit, if his career makes it that far. I haven't seen any major hype surrounding him. 7th round pick in 2004. Also, it was just a move they had to make since Baugh was on the 40 man roster and they needed the spot for the other Kenny, Mr Rogers.

I don't think he will ever make it to the majors. That trade was just a roster move dump.

Tigers add Mantei

Matt Mantei missed out on the Marlins' 1997 World Series championship, but he'll have a chance to join the reunion here. The Tigers announced Tuesday they signed the reliever to a Minor League contract and invited him to Spring Training.
The Tigers filled their void for a veteran setup man with a 32-year-old right-hander whose career took off the last time he played for manager Jim Leyland. Acquired by then-Marlins GM Dave Dombrowski in the Rule 5 Draft before the 1995 season, Mantei saw spot duty for two years before missing the 1997 season following rotator cuff surgery.

By the time Mantei returned to the Majors, the Marlins roster had been overhauled, giving him a chance at a major role in Leyland's bullpen. He led the 1998 Marlins with nine saves to go with a 2.96 ERA and 63 strikeouts, then was traded to Arizona midway through the following season.

Mantei's second go-around with Leyland and Dombrowski this spring, by contrast, will be an attempt to turn around his career after injuries and control woes hampered him the past couple years. He went 1-0 with a 6.49 ERA for the Red Sox last year, allowing 19 earned runs in 26 1/3 innings with 24 walks and 22 strikeouts. He went on the disabled list July 2 and underwent season-ending ligament surgery on his left ankle later in the month.

A year earlier, Mantei's tenure in Arizona ended in midseason with surgery to remove a bone spur in his shoulder after missing much of the year with labrum problems.

His last full, healthy season was a solid one. He saved 29 games for the Diamondbacks in 2003 to go with a 5-4 record and 2.62 ERA. He scattered 37 hits over 55 innings that year while racking up 68 strikeouts.

If he's healthy this spring, it's easy to see him making the club. Though the Tigers have solidified their late-inning corps with closer Todd Jones, they have a relatively unproven group under him after situational lefty Jamie Walker. Ex-closer Fernando Rodney will turn 29 next spring but has yet to pitch 40 games in a Major League season. Franklyn German finally stuck with the big club all season last year but is still just 25 years old. Chris Spurling became a prominent middle reliever last year in his second Major League season.

Leyland said during the Winter Meetings that he worried about having a young bullpen to go with a young rotation.

Mantei becomes the 20th player to receive a non-roster invite to Tigers Spring Training. Others include pitchers Tim Crabtree, Chad Durbin, Lee Gardner, Kevin Hodge, Colby Lewis, Hector Mercado and Bobby Seay; catchers Brian Peterson, Mike Rabelo, Chris Robinson, Danilo Sanchez and Max St. Pierre; infielders Mike Hessman, Kevin Hooper, Josh Phelps and Ramon Santiago; and outfielders Alexis Gomez, Ryan Ludwick and Reggie Taylor.

I hope Mantei works out but I've had him on enough fantasy teams to have my doubts.

It kinda seems like we're loading up Toledo with a 50-50 mix of top prospects and over-the-hill guys that might never see the majors but will help Toledo win. Is that the ultimate goal of AAA? Winning? Or developing talent first and foremost? It's nice if the two go hand and hand, but I would easily sacrifice winning for developing the best prospects. I could fill a lot of AAA teams with has-beens considering retirement, but what good would that do anyone? Even if they are able to win a crapload of games? Now I'm going a little far here, but it seems a number of signings are guys that would only make the bigs in an absolutely horrible bad news worst case scenario.

Maybe winning in the AAA makes our prospects seem better than they are, thus better trade bate? I dunno, just felt like I should contribute.

It kinda seems like we're loading up Toledo with a 50-50 mix of top prospects and over-the-hill guys that might never see the majors but will help Toledo win. Is that the ultimate goal of AAA? Winning? Or developing talent first and foremost? It's nice if the two go hand and hand, but I would easily sacrifice winning for developing the best prospects. I could fill a lot of AAA teams with has-beens considering retirement, but what good would that do anyone? Even if they are able to win a crapload of games? Now I'm going a little far here, but it seems a number of signings are guys that would only make the bigs in an absolutely horrible bad news worst case scenario.

Aren't those invitations to the major league training camp?

So I doubt that most of those guys would end up at Toledo, except for maybe a couple guys.

Tigers, Maroth nearing multiyear deal
Left-hander reportedly will receive $5.25 million contract

Mike Maroth and the Tigers have been tied to each other ever since the former suffered 21 losses and the latter lost 119 games in 2003. That commitment is about to be solidified.

Maroth and the Tigers are reportedly near an agreement to avoid arbitration with a two-year deal. The Associated Press valued the contract at $5.25 million.

"We've had conversations, but I can't say more at this point," Tigers under president/general manager Dave Dombrowski told The AP on Tuesday night.

The deal would make Maroth the first of Detroit's young players to garner a multiyear contract. Detroit has several players up for arbitration this year, including Jeremy Bonderman and Craig Monroe for the first time and Carlos Pena and Brandon Inge for the second time. It would also give the 28-year-old left-hander a reward for three-plus seasons of underrated service at the forefront of a rebuilding club.

Only Inge, Dmitri Young and Jamie Walker have been with the Tigers longer than Maroth, who was called up in June 2002 and inherited the unlikely role of staff ace in his first full big league season the next year. He took the brunt of the damage on a young, overmatched ballclub, becoming the first pitcher since Oakland's Brian Kingman in 1980 to lose 20 games in a season. However, Maroth's emotional steadiness set the tone for a clubhouse that took notoriety gracefully.

The two seasons since then have been more of a success story for Maroth, who has become Detroit's version of the prototypical finesse lefty in the mold of Jamie Moyer and Tom Glavine. Maroth's one-hitter of the Yankees in 2004 was the highlight of a bounceback season that left him with an 11-13 record and a 4.31 ERA that was nearly a run and a half lower than the year before.

Maroth reached the .500 mark last year by posting a 6-2 record over the final two months of the season. Only five American Leaguers threw more pitches under 80 mph last year, according to the Bill James Handbook, but he averaged a relatively low 2.2 walks per nine innings.

Not only would a two-year deal be a measure of accomplishment for Maroth, it would be out of the ordinary for Dombrowski. Though no player has gone to arbitration since Dombrowski took over as general manager in 2002, all of the arbitration-avoiding contracts have been for one year, following a trend from his days in Florida.

No Tigers pitcher has been re-signed to a multiyear, guaranteed contract since Jeff Weaver and Matt Anderson prior to the 2002 season.
http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060110&content_id=1293892&vkey=news_det&fext=.jsp&c_id=det

I know Maroth gets a lot of flake from Tigers fans but I personally think that he is solid. We have guys with better (and flashier) stuff than him but no one is as consistent and dependable as him.

Just a couple more notes:


Baseball, Italian style, for Tigers

The Detroit Tigers will have some European guests at spring training - the Italian national baseball team.

Italy will play the Tigers in an exhibition game in Lakeland, Fla., on March 4 in preparation for the World Baseball Classic, the Italian baseball federation said Monday. The Italians will train in the Tigers' spring training home from March 3-6.

Tigers pitcher Jason Grilli is being considered for Italy's roster for the March 3-20 tournament.

Italy will play its opening-round games in Orlando, Fla. It faces Australia on March 7, Venezuela a day later and the Dominican Republic on March 9.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/wires/01/09/2010.ap.bba.tigers.italy.0121/


Fernando Vina signs with the Mariners

Vina, a 36-year-old middle infielder who made his major league debut with Seattle in 1993, also missed all of last season.

The Detroit Tigers placed him on the disabled list March 15 with a strained right hamstring and patellar tendinitis in his left knee. Injuries limited Vina to 29 games with Detroit in 2004, when he hit .226.

Vina has hit .282 with 627 runs scored, 194 doubles, 49 triples, 40 home runs, 343 RBIs and 116 stolen bases in 1,148 games with Seattle (1993), New York Mets(1994), Milwaukee (1995-1999), St. Louis (2000-2003) and Detroit (2004-2005).

Vina will battle second-year-man Jose Lopez and utility player Willie Bloomquist for time at second base.

I realize that this is not really Tiger related but I have always liked Vina. He did us a favor by talking Renteria out of signing here and he also got the ball rolling on other FA signings.

How was talking Renteria out of signing here a favor? Because it lead to us getting Guillen? Look, I love Guillen, but his health is a huge question mark. Renteria missed 9 games last year - that's all. While statistically he may have had a bad year for him, it's better than what we would get with half a year of Guillen and half a year of Infante. I'll take a .720 OPS for 153 games.

It kinda seems like we're loading up Toledo with a 50-50 mix of top prospects and over-the-hill guys that might never see the majors but will help Toledo win. Is that the ultimate goal of AAA? Winning? Or developing talent first and foremost? It's nice if the two go hand and hand, but I would easily sacrifice winning for developing the best prospects. I could fill a lot of AAA teams with has-beens considering retirement, but what good would that do anyone? Even if they are able to win a crapload of games? Now I'm going a little far here, but it seems a number of signings are guys that would only make the bigs in an absolutely horrible bad news worst case scenario.

That's been the trend in baseball lately. Most of the top prospects never see triple a, they go straight from AA to the bigs. Triple A is for the borderline players who are never expected to be stars and for washouts who need to regroup.

Tigers added Matt Mantei and Josh Phelps.

Mantei if he could stay healthy could give the bullpen a big lift, but doubtful he can.

I would rather have Phelps in the lineup than Young. Phelps has nice power, but we got enough 1B/DH types from the right side. If he were LH, Pena would be gone.


Art

Detroit avoids arbitration with three
Bonderman, Pena and Spurling each sign one-year deals

On the day the Tigers were to exchange figures with their arbitration-eligible players, the Tigers signed all but one of them, agreeing to terms Tuesday on one-year deals with Jeremy Bonderman, Carlos Pena and Chris Spurling.

The signings leave Craig Monroe as the lone player left to either reach a deal or go to arbitration.

Pena, a second-time arbitration-eligible player, will make $2.8 million this season, up from $2.575 million last year. Bonderman will make $2.3 million this season, while Spurling will make $725,000.

All three deals came together on Tuesday after talks that continued through the weekend.
"I actually thought, going into the morning, that we'd have to have four cases," Tigers executive vice president and legal counsel John Westhoff said. "You always have a lot of negotiations going on in advance, but the deals came together this morning. It's driven by the deadline."

The 27-year-old Pena will receive a pay raise after a topsy-turvy year that saw him lose his starting job at first base, spend much of the summer at Triple-A Toledo, then return to Detroit late in the season to reclaim his role as one of the top sluggers on the team. He hit .235 for the season with 18 home runs and 44 RBIs in 79 games. His stronger numbers were a .286 average, 15 homers and 30 RBIs in 38 games upon his return from the Minors.

Bonderman was eligible for arbitration for the first time at age 23, coming off a season in which he tied for the team lead with a career-high 14 wins. He earned All-Star consideration with an 11-5 record at the break before elbow soreness bothered him down the stretch. He posted a 4.57 ERA to go with his 14-13 record and 145 strikeouts over 189 innings. On Monday, was named to the initial roster for Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

Though fellow starter Mike Maroth signed a two-year contract last week, a multi-year deal was not on the table with Bonderman or the other two players.

Though Spurling has only pitched for two seasons at the big-league level, his year on the disabled list after Tommy John surgery in 2004 counted toward his service time. He returned from rehab to put together a solid comeback season last year with a 3-4 record, 3.44 ERA and .230 batting average allowed. He allowed a 1.66 ERA at Comerica Park compared to 5.51 on the road.

With those contracts complete, the Tigers will focus their efforts on talks with Monroe, a first-year arbitration-eligible player coming off his first season as an everyday starting outfielder, and his agent Adam Katz. He batted .277 with 20 home runs, 30 doubles and a team-leading 89 RBIs.

The Tigers have not gone to arbitration with a player since Dave Dombrowski assumed general manager duties in 2002. Though this is the first time in that span they've gotten this far into the process with a player, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll go to a hearing.

"I just view this as the next step in the process," Westhoff said.

I don't know if anyone realized it but our payroll currently sits at $85 million. And that is with Higgy and Vina's money off the books.

We have 53.5 million committed to 6 guys. :shock:

Ordonez 15
Rodriguez 11
Rogers 8
Young 8
Percival 6
Jones 5.5

can someone explain to me what the hell arbitration is?

A player can take the team to an independent body (arbitrator)
both sides plead their cases and the arbitrator decides if that player based on previous performance deserves more money than he is getting and how much more the team needs to pay

thats why you see teams signing players to quick one year deals to avoid arbitration and possibly saving money

ah, I see. Thanks

Percival and Young are eating 14 million. Yuck.

In arbitration, what actually happens is both sides submit a figure and the arbitrator decides which figure it should be. For example, Player says he deserves 8 million, and the team says he deserves 4 million, the arbitrator picks one of the two numbers.

Arbitration isn't exclusive to sports. That's just where most people have heard of it. It's actually a very frequently used system used to get faster judgements than two sides ever would in the court system. Without arbitration, our courts would be even more backlogged.

In arbitration, what actually happens is both sides submit a figure and the arbitrator decides which figure it should be. For example, Player says he deserves 8 million, and the team says he deserves 4 million, the arbitrator picks one of the two numbers.

Yup, there is no in between.

Jovial Robertson to get serious

Left-hander, who hopes change in training regimen helps endurance, groomed for prime time.

Call it dugout humor -- a brand of needling players thrive upon.

Nate Robertson and Chris Shelton were enjoying a particularly good round of it Tuesday at Dart Auditorium on the campus of Lansing Community College, where the western half of the Tigers' winter publicity caravan stopped for hot-stove talk with local media and junior-college students.

Robertson and Shelton traded barbs about careers they might have chosen had baseball not been their choice. Robertson said he would have wanted a career in baseball in any capacity. Shelton countered by suggesting Robertson should have been a lawyer for all the clubhouse debates he seems to inspire and moderate.

Well, you had to be there, but it was a bit of levity ahead of some upcoming business that begins in spring training at Lakeland, Fla. For Robertson, the business will be serious, indeed. He is being looked at as a prime-time starting pitcher for the Tigers.

It means he should be thinking about reversing that 2005 record of 7-16. He would like to do something, as well, about a 4.48 ERA that fattened up in the season's final 10 weeks, after he entered a July series in Boston with a 3.85 ERA.

He wants to find his old strikeout pitch (he dropped from 155 to 122 last year). He wants, above all, to settle in as a steady, upper-tier left-hander, which he and the Tigers believe he should become at 28.

New manager Jim Leyland has suggested Robertson might need, at various points of the season, more time between starts (he pitched 196 2/3 innings, same as in 2004). Robertson's self-analysis for his out-of-gas second half and the dropoff in strikeouts is that he simply needed to change his conditioning regimen.

"The big thing is I don't know if I focused enough last season on lower-body strengthening," Robertson said.

He changed his approach during this winter while working with former Tigers strength-and-conditioning coordinator Denny Taft. Robertson and Taft live five minutes from each other, in Canton. They got together on a program tailored to Robertson's legs and abdominal wheelhouse, which can have a significant effect on endurance, not to mention a pitcher's fastball.

It should make a difference, Robertson said. Other differences have to do with how the Tigers compare with the 2005 version, which Robertson believes can't help but be a plus.

"Let's face it," he said, referring to 2005's late-summer spiral, "those last five weeks were the most miserable month of baseball I've ever gone through."

It didn't change his disposition toward his team or his new year-round home. Robertson is a Wichita, Kan., native who wants it known he considers Metro Detroit home.

"I really want to be here," he said. "I like the community. I do my training up here. I've really made the commitment to this team wholeheartedly."

He might confess to being surprised how it has all worked out. At 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 11, 2003, Robertson was greeted by a phone call. He had been traded by Florida to the Tigers in a package deal that sent Mark Redman to the Marlins.

The reason Robertson remembers the hour with such clarity is that he had just gotten married the previous night. He and his new wife, Kristin -- a flight attendant for Spirit Airlines and a Florida native -- could now pull up stakes and move to Michigan and to a Tigers team that was, to say the least, in a state of flux.

If the team has had its bumps and bruises since Robertson came aboard, he and Kristin have more than adapted to Michigan.

Detroit happens to be one of Spirit's hubs, which has made a new environment easier on Kristin. Robertson, of course, knew what winter was like when he grew up in Wichita.

He can handle a few crisp weeks in Michigan's more northern reaches, especially when Florida and spring camp are three weeks away.

But it isn't climate, or community comforts, or anything other than pitching that Robertson views as his ultimate reason for wanting to live in Detroit. He wants to become a successful, reliable big-league pitcher.

Making the grade here is his mission, his objective, his job.

"As long as I'm preparing properly, things will be fine," said Robertson, who likes what he has heard so far from new pitching coach Chuck Hernandez. "If you compare my numbers from last year with the numbers from 2004, everything got better, except for strikeouts and wins. Everything improved.

"I'm in good shape right now. I believe in myself enough to go out there and get things right this season."

That will be fine with the Tigers, who, like Robertson, figure they've had their fill from the other end.

I like the fact that he is living here full time and has been working on his conditioning during the offseason. Hopefully, that will translate into better performance on the mound.

Shelton takes big first step
Tiger gets jump at his alma mater

For the past few years, Chris Shelton has gotten a jump on spring training by working out with the baseball team at his alma mater, the University of Utah.

This winter, the workouts have been more crucial.

Shelton, 25, wants to be the Tigers' everyday first baseman when spring training starts in less than three weeks for position players, and he has been working on his fielding.

"I'm taking a lot of ground balls on a FieldTurf," Shelton said. "I'm there at all their practices. Their practices start at 1:30 and they go until 4:30, and I go there three hours a day, five to six times a week. I try to blend in with all the guys. I do everything they do as much as possible."

Shelton, a Salt Lake City native, began weight training in November. In December, when many college teams began their preseasons, Shelton joined in with the Utes.

It's a symbiotic relationship: The college guys learn from a major league player, and Shelton gets access to Eccles Field House, an indoor football building converted into a state-of-the-art baseball facility in the winter, complete with full infields and batting cages.

"He comes in and takes ground balls with our infielders," Utes coach Bill Kinneberg said. "We don't have to coach him, we just let him participate. He interacts with the team. They gravitate to him and want to be around him. We want our alumni to come back and share their passion for baseball with our guys."

Last year, in his first full season, Shelton batted .299 and hit 18 home runs in 107 games. He played 84 games at first base and will compete with Carlos Pena and Dmitri Young for the starting job this spring.

"I love playing first base," Shelton said. "It keeps me in the game."

New infield coach Rafael Belliard welcomes the chance to work with Shelton on his fielding.

"Wow, he's a good athlete," Belliard said. "I watched the video of him. We have to work on his throwing. I look forward to spring training so I can teach him more. I have a lot of secrets I think I can pass to him."

Shelton began last season at Triple-A Toledo and was called up in late May. He was an instant hit. Shelton was the Tigers' player of the month in June and July, hitting .338 with 17 RBIs in June, and .350 with 18 RBIs in July.

His 42 hits in July were an American League high, and he posted a 15-game hitting streak.

The Web site www.tigerscentral.com calls him a "Mickey Tettleton-type player with more speed."

Shelton, nicknamed "Red Bull," came to the Tigers from Pittsburgh in the off-season draft in December 2003. He played little in 2004, but he proved himself with the bat last year.

"He's got power and he can hit, and he's improved his defense," said new Tigers manager Jim Leyland. "I can tell you this: He'll get plenty of at-bats. I don't have starters or nonstarters. I have 25 players, and every one of them has to be ready to make some kind of contribution to a winning cause, and he'll be one of the 25, I'm sure."

Shelton, 6-feet and 215 pounds, is making sure he will be ready by working out at Utah.

"I've done this for four years," he said. "Every off-season, I go back. They've been great. I blend in with guys. If we're doing a drill and someone messed up and the coaches made them run, then I get in and run with them.

"I swing my wooden bats. All the players at the university use aluminum. Other than that, if you watch practice, the only way you wouldn't know that I'm on the team is my attire. The team is in their pants and Utah T-shirts, and I'm out there in my shorts."

Monroe, Tigers agree to one-year deal
Outfielder was Detroit's last arbitration-eligible player

The Tigers and outfielder Craig Monroe have avoided arbitration and reached agreement on a one-year contract, according to a team official.

Terms of the agreement were not released by the club, though it's safe to assume it's somewhere between the $2.45 million the Tigers had offered in arbitration and the $3.05 million Monroe had requested.

Monroe hit .277 with 20 home runs, 30 doubles and a team-leading 89 RBIs in 2005, which was his first full year as an everyday outfielder. His 12 sacrifice flies were the most in the Major Leagues.

With Rondell White out of the picture, Monroe is expected to get everyday starts in left field this season. It's possible, though, that Dmitri Young and Curtis Granderson could also get some time at the position.

Monroe was the only remaining arbitration-eligible player on the Tigers.

Cool, I liked Monroe, and he should have an even bigger role with white out of the way.

Cool, I liked Monroe, and he should have an even bigger role with white out of the way.

Always trying to keep the white man down.

[home simpson voice]Damn you white man.....[/homer simpson voice]

Craig Monroe got mad disrespected by Tram last year. He was one of the best offensive outfielders in the AL last year and he was batting SEVENTH while slags like Pudge and Young were batting in the heart. That was bullshit.

Monroe better be in the heart or I'm protesting.

Craig Monroe got mad disrespected by Tram last year. He was one of the best offensive outfielders in the AL last year and he was batting SEVENTH while slags like Pudge and Young were batting in the heart. That was bullshit.

Monroe better be in the heart or I'm protesting.


I'd rather deal with Monroe being pissed at me than having to hear Pudge and Young bitch even more. I dont blame him. Too many "rock stars" on that team. And none of them are that good.

I wonder if this means Monroe doesn't have to steal anymore belts from department stores?

That wasnt Monroe, that ws just his friend that happened to look like him, and he let him barrow his wallet to purchase the belt. Its not his fault that he walked out with out paying for it

Tigers agree to terms with eight players
Six pitchers among Detroit's recent signees

The Tigers announced Tuesday they've agreed to terms on one-year contracts with eight more players on their 40-man roster.
Pitchers Eulogio De La Cruz, Preston Larrison, Humberto Sanchez, Jordan Tata, Mark Woodyard and Joel Zumaya, shortstop Tony Giarratano and outfielder Brent Clevlen all reached deals for the 2006 season. The signings were a procedural formality entering Spring Training; none of them were eligible for salary arbitration or free agency. Only Giarratano and Woodyard have any Major League experience.

All eight players will report to Major League camp later this month, though none of them are favorites to make the big club. Zumaya, one of the organization's top pitching prospects along with Justin Verlander, arguably has the best chance. He's among the candidates for the fifth spot in the rotation as well as a long relief role out of the bullpen.

The signings mean the Tigers have 25 members of their 40-man roster under contract for the season.

Do you see any young Tigers prospects like Brent Clevlen, Jordan Tata or Kody Kirkland making significant jumps? Clevlen and Tata were Most Valuable Player and Player of the Year, respectively, in the Florida State League this year, and Kirkland played well in the Arizona Fall League. Plus, I'm pretty sure all of those guys were put on the 40-man roster. Any chance we'll see them in the bigs?
-- Brendan S., Lakeland, Fla.

Probably not this year, barring injuries. None of them are in a position to benefit from a lack of depth on the parent club, as Tony Giarratano did last summer when Carlos Guillen was injured. Kirkland probably has the best chance of the three because of his age, but Detroit has other options at third base if Inge is hurt.
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060208&content_id=41059&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

I was wondering what you think of Detroit Tigers prospect Joel Zumaya. He seems to get overshadowed by Justin Verlander, but I hear a lot of good things about him. Can Zumaya be another good arm for the Tigers future? Also, I hear the Tigers may be thinking of grooming him to be a closer. Is this true? What role do you think he would be best used in, starter or closer? -- Matt, Detroit

I'm of the mind that you let a guy start -- unless he was a reliever coming in or you converted him right from the get-go -- until he shows he can't be successful as a starter, or he wears down and there are injury concerns. He is a little bit of a maximum -effort guy, so there may be some concern about how he'd hold up over the course of a long Major League season. But he's also a bulldog. Performance-wise, he's done nothing to show he shouldn't start, with a 3.23 ERA in 409 2/3 Minor League IP. He's struck out 504 and walked 190 in that span. In 2005, he had 199 K's in 151 1/3 IP, though he did walk 76. I'd let him start.

What that means for this year is that he's in the competition for the No. 5 starter in Detroit with Verlander and Roman Colon. If he loses that, there was some talk that the Tigers would slide him into the bullpen to get him big league time. I don't think it'd be a terrible thing for him to go back to Toledo and get some starts at the ripe old age of 21. For that matter, it wouldn't kill Verlander to spend some time in Toledo, either. Verlander's overshadowed Zumaya because he's a college guy who went in the first round as one of the top overall picks, while Zumaya was drafted out of high school in the 12th round of the 2002 draft. For his part, Zumaya has said he probably would enjoy coming out of the bullpen, that he has the right mentality for it. If he becomes a closer, look out. The guy can throw triple digits already as a starter.
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060209&content_id=41196&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp