Check that

Thanks for the reports, Jason. The only reason for the confusion is that these things are hard to put a time table on, and it sounds like the people around Sheff are confused.

I think this is great news, and look forward to a great season from the Tigers' DH next year. I think we should give him credit for doing the best he could with his injury this year.

I think the Tigers' last two seasons show how much more important piching is than offense. 2006--bad hitting, great pitching= World Series. 2007-overall great hitting, poor pitching= no playoffs.

Verlander will be good again next year. Every other starter is a question mark, in my opinion. If we can get good seasons out of two or three pitchers, we'll be doing fine. But who?

In any case, having JL locked in is good.

Wonder who the new manager of the Yankees will be...

Yeah, these updates are appreciated. I think six months (start of the regular season) is the accepted norm for this type of surgery, but earlier is certainly a possibility for a non-pitcher. Sheff may hit .120 for the month of April, but he's already done that. :-)

So, unless Steinbrenner proves himself to be a lying SOS (imagine that), Torre is gone and with him some players, possibly. So who you want? You want Posada for catcher? A-Rod at short? How about Abreu in the outfield? Rivera as your closer? Pettitte as your veteran starter? This thing is going to be interesting to a lot of teams. Time will tell.

TyCobb, thanks for that comprehensive list of F/A's. Very disappointing. Never saw such a bunch of has beens, journeymen, old guys, guys on the downside and guys with obvious flaws. I'd rather struggle thru another 85-90 win season and develope our talent, than spend any money or prospects on those guys.

In most cases, our F/A's are better than the alternatives from other teams.

The one guy, I might be willing to spend big bucks on if he becomes available is Dunn from Cincy. How could you get a bigger lefty bat than that? I'm assuming he can be at least adequate in LF because we've already got Guillen at first. Now I know he strikes out a ton, but I feel that is somewhat negated by over 100 walks for three straight years. And the last 3 years, he's played no fewer than 160 games. He'd still be under 30 years old for the next two seasons. Cincy is never going to compete so he's got to like coming to a winner. Over 40+ hrs for three straight years. And another thing, if we get him, your SS problem goes away because with that bat in the line up, we can afford to put Santiago there.

HE'S THE ONE!!

I think there will be a a lot of talk about Dunn. He is a possibility.
The Tigers were not apparent in this article on Fukudome:

"Padres To Push For Fukudome?

One National League exec has indicated to a source of mine that the Padres plan to go hard for Kosuke Fukudome. Apparently, Kevin Towers nearly signed him out of high school as a shortstop.

We've heard Fukudome mentioned mainly as a right fielder, but the Friars have Brian Giles signed through 2008. Perhaps they'd try him in center field for one year, where he'd probably be adequate at best. Fukudome is currently recovering from endoscopic elbow surgery, but he should be ready for spring.

Previously we've seen the White Sox, Giants, Red Sox, Cubs, and Yankees linked to Fukudome at varying levels of speculation."

It appears the Tigers would be more likely to sign a Russian left winger than a Japanese outfielder.

The two names on that list that jump out at me are those of Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte. These two are perfect replacements for Todd Jones and Kenny Rogers. Rivera has enough left in the tank to complement Zumaya and Rodney, and Pettitte remains a solid, 200+ inning starter with big gameability.

It's about pitching. We've already demonstrated we can hit.

I would take Petite over Rivera at this stage. He certainly is a gamer.

Pitching is the key ingredient but we do need to bolster the offense a bit more and ideally with the much mentioned LHB.

There were too many streaks last year where RISP were not scored and the clutch hits did not come. There was an extended period of time where no one could muscle the ball out of the park.

Sheffield can not be counted on as being healthy and productive. Arthroscopic or not. Pudge will be hard-pressed to hit .280 and 10 homeruns. Inge will not be appreciably better. Ordonez and Polanco and Granderson had outstanding years and it is a good bet that 1 or more of them will not have similar seasons as this one.

I don't think it is wise to think we are OK with the staus quo offensively.

I don't think we're OK with the offensive status quo either, but if I had to choose, I'd want more pitching. We have to be able to counter Cleveland's big three starters and two-headed monster setup men. Minnesota could get Liriano back. Chicago couldn't possibly have the same kind of season as the one just completed.

At this particular point, I have an eye on the Joe Torre situation and what it means to the more valuable Yankee players. Steinbrenner himself might be the one to push A-Rod into the open market.

I can't see A-Rod moving. What's he getting now? 28 mil? If it were a situation where the market for your services could double or triple you salary but where are you gonna find someone that is going to be able to pay more than that?
And what does it say about an individual who would move somewhere because a new employer will give him 32 million as opposed to 28 million?

Don't get me wrong, I think we would have a very exciting team with an A-Rod around.

Despite my semi-humorous "plot to get A-Rod" I didn't really think he was leaving New York until this Torre business surfaced. Now I'm not sure. I don't know much about his contract, other than it was Texas who created the absurdity of it. Don't know much about A-Rod the man, either. Does he want more money, or a chance to win? I suspect the latter, and he didn't get that with the Yankees. He'd have a better chance in the Central Division, or in the NL. I do know he'd be treated much better anywhere than he has been in Gotham.

You can bet it will be a hot topic.

Great posts! I like what each of you said, so I am going to do my best to put my 2 cents in on each one.

Steve - I agree, these things are hard to put a timetable on. But if anyone can come back from this type of suggery it would be Sheff. Like we have all said, he has always kept him self in shape and taken pride in his performance to his team.

Rich - You have my mind spinning again with all those Yankees' names. I wouldn't turn my head at Pettitte. In the past 3-years he has won: 17, 14 & 15 games. He is 35 and should have a few years left in the tank. Would be a great replacement for Rogers if he didn't come back. Although, I don't see Pettitte going to a 'small market' team again after being with the Yanks this year. So I doubt this will happen.

Rivera - would be a great addition for a 2-year deal if Jones doesn't come back (which I don't think he will - like I said before, I think he will take the money and run). This would give Zoom alittle more time to mature into a closer. Again, I don't see Rivera ever leaving the Yankees though.

Posada - He is a gamer and a good catcher, but again, I don't see him leaving the Yankees.

Abreu - I have always liked him. He is definitely a gamer. .300 lifetime hitter and can play the outfield. I would push for him for LF.

A-Rod - Well, I would ****-o-la in my pants if we signed him. And yes, Dan, I would pay 32 mil a year for A-Rod, he would be worth every ring we would win with him.

JT - "Ty Cobb" you can see my last name is long so my parents named me "Ty" My whole family is from Toledo and are Detroit fans, so I am actually named after Ty Cobb..good call.

I thought about Dunn from Cincy and looked hard at his stats after finding that F/A list. He does K alot, as you mentioned, but 40 HR's and 100 walks make up for 150 K's IMO. I also agree, we could then stick Santiago at SS, since the list of FA at that position is thin. Unless we sign "Rat Boy Wilson" from Pitt, which I have a feeling we are going to do anyway.

As far as Cleveland winning last night .............. I think you all know how I feel about it. Nuff said.

I've always thought these guys wouldn't leave New York either, but is the attraction the Yankees or playing for Torre? Joe has always been there for this entire run. They'd stay if it was handled correctly, IMO. From what I know of Don Mattingly, he's an A-1 person, and he'd have Torre's blessings, so I can see most or all of these guys sticking around.

Bobby Abreu now.........lefthand hitting outfielder.......what do you guys think of him?

He'd be good and has made the transition to the AL.
Dunn is about 5 years younger though.

Abreau can run and throws well too.

Rather have Nick Markakis though that would require a trade.