The Tigers have said that they completed a five year deal that will keep Justin Verlander in town for the forseeable future.  With all of the emphasis toward cutting salary (up until they signed Jose Valverde), this was a welcome move for Tiger fans and it all came down as the arbitration date was getting [...]

Keith Law’s latest blog post is on top rookie prospects for 2010 and he touches on Austin Jackson, Al Avila and Scott Sizemore.  He has some nice things to say about Sizemore which is encouraging.  I’m still a little pessimistic (about him at second next year, not long term) so hopefully I’m wrong.

This is a great story over at Bless You Boys.  Apparantly Dave Dombrowski and the Tigers are doing a number of things to fulfill an injured police officer and big time Tigers fans baseball dreams.

The Detroit News had a quick chat with Dave Dombrowski and the Tigers GM said the team isn’t close to signing Johnny Damon.  It also looks like the Tigers haven’t even talked to Boras or Damon so you wonder if this is just Dombrowski’s usual cryptic response (can’t blame him), or if it’s a play [...]

Tom Gage gave a run down on what he thinks the top ten spring training stories will be as we get closer to pitchers and catchers reporting.  His number one is Austin Jackson and that will go out the window if the Tigers sign Johnny Damon.  I think Scott Sizemore and Jeremy Bonderman will matter [...]

MLB Trade Rumors brought up an interesting discussion today.  Should Justin Verlander make more then Felix Hernandez?  Jon Paul Morosi seems to think so but Dierkes brings up some great points as to why this might not be the case.

It’s hard not to get too excited about a Verlander/Scherzer/Porcello front end of the rotation.  Verlander has already shown what he can do while Scherzer has just as much potential.  It’s also easy to get jack up over Porcello’s freshman campaign as a 20 year old.  That’s why Jason Beck’s latest on Porcello is a [...]

It looks like Scott Boras is working hard and he’s come out and said that Johnny Damon wants to talk to the Tigers.  I like how he plays up Damon’s numbers at Comerica Park.  Damon tied a career high last year with 24 home runs and he has an impressive .355 on base percentage so [...]

Last week, I talked about my confusion regarding the direction, or lack of, that the Tigers are taking.  Well, I’m still thinking about it and I think one of the big missing pieces is how the Tigers are going to look after the 2010 season and not before.  If I take a look at the [...]

Is it going to be long before PECOTAing is a word.  Anyway, Billfer does a nice job of not only mentioning the fact that the mean averages are out for PECOTA, but he gives us a few Tiger specific nuggets.  Namely how good people expect Max Scherzer to be as well as how things stack [...]

Brandon Inge’s contract with the Tigers is finished at the end of the 2010 and this fan can’t wait for him to go somewhere else.  One interesting not on Inge in his defense is when you look at his splits, he’s a much better career hitter when you carve out his time at catcher.  Those [...]

It looks like the Tigers and Justin Verlander are getting closer to a long term deal that will lock up the franchise pitcher.  The current deal on the table is 5 years, $75 million with the Felix Hernandez contract as the bench mark.  Rosenthal and Morosi say in their piece that if there’s a sixth [...]

Lots of news around MLB today and some signings that could potential impact the 2010 New York Mets. 1- Free agent starting pitchers Ben Sheets and Jon Garland are now signed with Sheets joining the Oakland A’s(1 yr/10 million) and Garland tossing for the San Diego Padres(1 yr/4.7 mill). Both were believed to be options [...]

The Tigers sent Jeff Larish outright to Toledo today and he’ll be a non-roster invitee to spring training.  Larish is one of those guys who mashed in the minors but has problems in the majors catching up to pitches with that long swing.  I hope this isn’t Ryan Strieby’s fate (i.e. a career AAA guy) [...]

I’m confused.  Very confused.  Unless you’re the Chicago White Sox, you usually determine whether your team is a buyer or a seller and you react accordingly.  The Tigers appear to have an identity crisis because with each move they make, it appears they swing from one side to the other.  At the end of the [...]

The Mets have added an insurance policy for injured CF Carlos Beltran, trading RH RP Brian Stokes for OF Gary Matthews, JR from the Los Angeles Angels. The switch hitting OF, hit .250 with 4 home runs and 50 rbi in 103 games in 2009, while playing 80 starts in the field. He played 46 [...]

The Tigers were busy locking up a bunch of players prior to actual arbitration throughout the past week.  Gerald Laird signed for $3.95 million, Zach Miner is in for $950,000 and Bobby Seay signed for $2.475 million.  That leaves the pink elephant in the room in Justin Verlander.  The Tigers and Verlander look to be $2.6 million apart [...]

Mets top free agent C target Bengie Molina has reportedly re-upped with the San Francisco Giants for 1 yr at 4.5 million.  Look for New York to sign another veteran FA C(Rod Barajas?) 1B Carlos Delgado looks to be an ex Met as he signed with The Toronto Blue Jays, his original ML club.

Hot Stove Update: 1- Nothing more to add on the Carlos Beltran mess, which is essentially a silly pissing contest between the organization and Beltran’s representatives(Scott Boras’ and his cast of thousands). The key here is getting #15 back and healthy, he is an amazing player and without him, the Mets are not half the club [...]

The Tigers locked up closer Jose Valverde to a two year, $14 million deal and there’s a $9 million option for 2012.  I’ve said this before, but I thought relief was one of the few spots where the Tigers should have just looked from within.  Instead, they’re overpaying, in my opinion, for a good but [...]

Tim Brown is reporting on Twitter that the Tigers have signed Jose Valverde to a two year, $14 million deal.  If this is the caee, I’m pretty disappointed.  I put a question mark next to it because it was Tweet and I haven’t seen anything official.

I’m a little behind on this, but with all of the prospects lists that have already been put out, Baseball America’s list almost seems late by comparison.  BA’s is probably the least Sabermetric friendly but the list is still pretty useful when you compare it other prospect analysts.  There’s no surprise that Jacob Turner comes [...]

In a shocking development, Mets superstar CF Carlos Beltran had surgery on his bad right knee Wednesday and will miss anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks. Beltran, missed 81 games with a bone bruise in the knee, led NY with a .325 average while posting a .415 on base percentage. He added 10 homers and [...]

The Tigers inked Joel Zumaya to a one year, $915,000 deal today and in the process, they avoided arbitration with the hard throwing right hander.  Zumaya has had his share of injuries the past three seasons but at less then a million, the team should get a bargain assuming Zumaya can pitch most of the [...]

Seperate internet reports have the Mets close to signing top free agent C Bengie Molina. ESPN believes the two sides will come to an agreement with the next 48-72 hours. FoxSports.com claims Molina’s asking price has lowered and he would accept a two year deal. Bloggers opinion: This would be another good move for the [...]

Wow, this was a big surprise and enough to drag me out of my hiatus. The Reds signed the highly coveted and much hyped Cuban hurler Aroldis Chapman. They inked him to a 5 year, $25 million deal and that should help shore up the rotation. My guess is he’ll be at the [...]

In one of his latest columns, Jason Beck ponders the Tigers choice of closers.  Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyon are gone so that leaves a laundry list of potential closers with Ryan Perry and Joel Zumaya probably heading the list.  The Tigers are still being mentioned in the talks for Jose Valverde but in my [...]

As I have stated for the past couple of weeks,  I love the Mets signing of Jason Bay. This is a great move and let me tell you why. 1- He is a 25 homer-100 rbi Left fielder. Like the 2008 offseason, the Mets had a major need that GM Omar Minaya filled.(Closer in ‘08) [...]

Highly sought after free agent OF Jason Bay passed his physical Monday in Manhattan and the Mets will announce his signing Tuesday. The club has called a 11 am Press Conference Tuesday at Citi field that will be aired live on the Mets flag ship station, SNY.  Bay’s deal is worth a reported 4 years [...]

It’s now 2010.  The free agency season is winding and spring training is less then two months away.  The Tigers made one of the biggest trades of the offseason and the question is, “now what?” Jason Beck is a little optimistic.  Or at least he’s conveying what the Tigers have told him.  He also talks about [...]