Arbitration -- four down, one to go
Another busy day for Tigers legal counsel John Westhoff, who was able to settle on one-year deals with all but one of the remaining arbitration cases. Gerald Laird gets a reported $2.8 million, Edwin Jackson a reported $2.2 million, Bobby Seay $1.3 million and Joel Zumaya $735,000.That leaves Justin Verlander, whose agent exchanged figures with the team today and have a significant gap to cross before they can settle. Verlander asked for $4.15 million, while the Tigers submitted a figure of $3.2 million. In case you haven't heard this already, the Tigers have not had an arbitration case to go to a hearing under Dave Dombrowski.
Jason, thanks for continuing to post the mailbag on the blog. I am happy to see the feature continue in this forum.
Lynn Henning has an interesting article about Rick Knapp in the News - http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090121/SPORTS0104/901210355/1129 . I'm guardedly optimistic about this. Pitching staffs can be a roller coaster ride and ours is actually pretty good if they pitch anywhere near their potential. I'm hopeful that he is deserving of some of the credit for the consistent excellence that has come through the Twins' system in recent years. I also like taking a chance on Rincon - we'll see if that goes anywhere soon enough.
Regarding the discussion a few days ago: I agree that a big reason the Tigers don't do much in free agency is that a lot of guys aren't good enough to justify the extra money you'd have to pay them to come and play in Detroit. Unfortunate, but true. It's interesting, though, how many guys who get traded to Detroit sign extensions.
There's another thing I've been thinking about that I thought I'd throw out for discussion. In the last few years, I think it is interesting that few, if any, of the players who have left Detroit have gone on to much success. Jair Jurjjens is really the only one that I can think of who has, while lots of other players have not made much of a splash. Craig Monroe, for example, went from starting pretty consistently on a team that made it to the World Series to a backup role. Are the Tigers really good at getting a lot out of marginal players? Am I just wrong? I'm not really talking about prospects that have been traded (Maybin, Miller, etc), rather established big league players. Mike Maroth was a reliable (if not particularly flashy) starter for years and has had a rough go since he left. I suppose injuries play a role, but it's something to think about on a cold day.
matt
Report any abuse or spam
I guess Carlos Pena is another good counter-example. We weren't the only ones who gave up on him, though, as both the Red Sox and the Yankees released him after we had...
.
matt
Report any abuse or spam
I'd argue for Chad Durbin, who was a huge part of the Phillies bullpen before wearing down late in the season. I'd also make the case for Omar Infante, who went from almost forgotten in Detroit to a valuable utilityman in Atlanta. Pudge? Well, not so much.
Report any abuse or spam