ESPN is reporting that the Tigers have signed outfielder Rondell White to a 2 year $6 million dollar deal. No word yet on Tejada. The News says the Tigers made a 5 year $50 million dollar offer, but that the sides are very far apart. I’ve got some kids to take care of now, and I’ll process this deal a little more later today hopefully.

Contingent on a physical, the Tigers have signed Fernando Vina to a two year contract for $3 million a year. While many have complained about this deal, I don’t mind it…yet. I don’t think you can really evaluate this signing until you see the other moves that the team makes this winter. If the Tigers compliment this signing with 2-3 other signings at key positions like shortstop, catcher and pitcher, then this could be worthwhile. If Vina is it, then it is a horrible move.

What this does signal is that the Tigers are willing to bring people here even if it means overspending. I know they’ve said they’d do it all along, but now they are actually doing it. It also means that free agents are willing to not only consider Detroit, but actually sign here. For that Dombrowski should be applauded.

While the Tigers did overpay, and while Vina might not be a significant offensive upgrade over Warren Morris, it is only a two year contract. I would consider signing to be a step forward (albeit a pretty darn small one). Let’s just hope there is more on the way.

The Free Press is reporting that the Tigers have made an offer to Fernando Vina. Vina is coming off an injury shortened 61 game season. However, he is a career .284 hitter with a .350 OBA. He’s 34 and made $5.3 million last year and it is believed to be a two year offer that the Tigers have made. ESPN is reporting that Vina is leaning towards signing with the Cubs. ESPN also is reporting that the Tigers are interested in Rich Aurilia should he not be offered arbitration by the Giants. The Red Sox may also be pursuing him.

With the Tigers pursuing Aurilia and Vina, it reveals a little bit about what their strategy is (or at least what I think it may be). The Tigers aren’t looking for players who will help them win a World Series. They are targeting veteran players who will help the team improve in the short term, to bridge the gap so to speak. What’s more important is that they are going after players that they feel will be tradeable. Dombrowski was yearning to trade veterans for prospects last summer, but he didn’t have the veterans to trade. His veterans weren’t good enough and made too much money for too long. If the Tigers can sign Aurilia or Vina to a short term contract, even if they have to overpay a little, they could finally have something to offer playoff contenders. Now this strategy isn’t without risk. If the Tigers do get these types of players, and then can’t trade them who do they turn to in two years to take the reins? The Tigers don’t really have any 2B or SS prospects throughout the minors. Of course this is all a bit premature because the Tigers haven’t actually signed these guys yet, and that in itself would be a major coup for Dombrowski.

In other news, Kevin Witt signed a minor league deal with St. Louis and Adam Pettyjohn inked a minor league deal with San Francisco.

Danny Knobler reports that the Tigers are going to go after Vlad and Tejada. They won’t get them, but at least they are going to try.

Warren Morris, Kevin Witt, Danny Klassen, AJ Hinch, and Brian Schmanck were removed from the 40 man roster. Morris, was at least serviceable, which for the Tigers is actually pretty good. He doesn’t have a lot of upside beyond what he did this year, but at least he’s a known commodity. Based on Infante’s performance with the Tigers and Mud Hens this year, it doesn’t appear that he is ready. And after trolling through the farm clubs, I don’t see any other middle infielders north of A ball. Could it be that the Tigers are going to make an actual run at Castillo or Tejada?

Witt showed some skills at the plate, but his OBA was only .301 and he couldn’t hit lefties at all. Also, defensively he was limited to playing first base.

I haven’t written a lot lately, or anything as a matter of fact. There isn’t much left to say about a team spiraling toward infamy that hasn’t already been said countless times. However, when I opened up my newspaper this morning there was actual Tiger “news.” Mike Illitch has finally decided to speak. While I’m not a proponent of the overly involved owner (ie Jerry Jones), Illitch’s refusal to answer for, or even comment on the product he is putting on the field until now is unacceptable. This interview was granted 160 games into the season, and probably should have been done sooner, but at least it has happened.

There are several points in the article, and I’ll comment on each.

First the good news: “I am going to do what I feel is necessary to field a good team,” said Ilitch. “I am going to go out and sign free agents. I am going to operate like other teams because I feel I have a foundation. I understand our youth and it is not real complicated now. We are going to fill the holes and see how it works. Everybody can pass judgment on it.” I’m thrilled to see that Illitch is willing to spend money to improve the team. Unfortunately, this is coming a little too late. After 10 losing seasons, Dombrowski is going to have a tough time marketing this team to impact level free agents. Dombrowski will have to be a tremendous salesman, and probably still overpay. What’s a tad distubring is that Illitch thinks this team has a foundation. While it does have some pieces (Munson, Pena, Young, and some pitching) I don’t really see a foundation yet.

Ilitch believes things would have worked out better if Comerica Park opened two years earlier instead of 2000. The original plan was to build it behind the Fox Theatre and open in the summer of 1998 when fans flocked to new stadiums across the country in droves.

But Ilitch said civic responsibility delayed the opening. I’m not sure how this would have helped. The only advantage I can see is that Palmer would have looked at Comerica’s dimensions and never signed here. This seems like a typical Illitch statement in which he offers something, and then no evidence to support it.

“I know the Lions lost 12 games in a row, and all you heard was about the coach and the president,” Ilitch said. “I have a bad year and all I hear about is Mike Ilitch. I don’t know about that. Does it bother me? It’s just strange what approach people want to take in analyzing situations.” Well Mr. Illitch, Bill Ford Sr. has been a constant source of criticism. Because while the Lions have had numerous presidents/coaches/players the fact is the Lions have still lost on their watch. At the same time under the current NFL labor agreement, there is a salary cap in place and there is much less owner discretion in setting payrolls. Now let’s look at the Tigers. Since Illitch has owned the team, they get impossibly worse each year. The fans were told that the team needs a new stadium to compete. That worked for a year, and then because of the cost of the stadium, it was necessary to cut payroll. Furthermore, Illitch’s silence only adds to the speculation and criticism. By answering for the team, Illitch could have staved off some of the criticism.

So in summary, I’m happy that Illitch has spoken, and I’m happy he’s committed to making the team better. However, he is still a little delusional.

I’ll be back this week with a season long wrap up and a look into the future as well.

Just a quick note to say I was still here and still paying attention to the Tig’s. Work has been really hopping lately. Plus, football season is in full swing (Go Blue) so my Tiger blogging time has been significantly cut into.

As a die-hard Tiger fan (die hard seems especially appropriate this year) I found this article comforting: For Tigers true Fans, miracle on horizon

Boros named special assistant to Dombrowski

Overall
August saw the “explosion” of the Tigers offense, and unfortunately the implosion of the pitching staffing. The result is that the Tigers finished the month 6-23. The Tigers also managed to string together their longest losing streak of the season at 11 during the month.

Transactions
The month began with Andres Torres returning to Toledo to make room for AJ Hinch coming off the DL. Two days later Hinch was back on the DL and Brandon Inge was called up (more on Inge later in the post). Unfortunately Danny Klassen was called up when Eric Munson’s season ended while going after a foul ball. Nate Robertson was called up and became an instant starter while Chris Mears was returned to Toledo until the September call-ups. The bullpen received a major shake up when Steve Sparks was DFA’d and Eric Eckenstahler and Matt Walbeck were optioned to Toledo in favor of Franklyn German, Fernando Rodney, and Brian Schmanck. August also saw the Tigers sign first round pick Kyle Sleeth.

Offense
On the surface the Tigers offense appears to have improved dramatically. They moved out of the cellar in most statistical categories, and their home runs and slugging percentage were 5th in the AL for the month, despite 16 of the 29 games being at home. However, the increased production only had a limited effect on the number of runs they scored. Despite being an average offense overall for the month, they were next to last in runs scored. If you look at their run efficiency average, which is runs divided by total bases plus walks (I did some more on REA earlier in the year) for the month, they were 13th at .242 against a league average of .270. If the Tigers were an average team in terms of efficiency, they would have scored an additional 14 runs, or almost .5 RPG. If you look a little deeper you see the Tigers struck out and hit into more double plays than any other team during the month. Which are two offensive events that just won’t help you score more.

Individually, the story has to start with Brandon Inge. In 21 games since being recalled he is hitting .338/.376/.550 with 3 home runs and 14 RBI. He has raised his average on the season to .208 which is 58 points better than the .150 he was hitting before his demotion. The real question is this for real or a hot streak. If you look at Brandon’s career numbers, .208 still qualifies as his best season. His 700 previous at-bats show he is a .190 hitter at best. While I’m rooting for the guy, I’m still not convinced this isn’t anything more than a hot streak. If he can keep it up for a second month in September, I might come around.

Other big performances include Craig Monroe hitting 8 home runs and slugging .605 in an effort to solidify a place with the Tigers next year. Carlos Pena continued his streaky ways by hitting .273/.357/.556 despite being in an 0-12 slump currently. Also interesting is that despite 6 home runs, Pena only had 8 RBI for the month. Higginson on the other hand has turned a month in which he hit .212/.262/.425 into seven home runs and 22 RBI. Dmitri Young is in the midst of a 15 game hitting streak and continues to have a monster year. Finally, Alex Sanchez seems to have found his base stealing groove again with 11 steals against only 2 caught stealing.

Defense
Oh Boy. The pitching staff is starting to produce the type of numbers we expected coming into the season. The bright spot for the month was Nate Robertson who in 3 starts is 1-0 with a 3.72 ERA with 14 strike outs. Jamie Walker was productive in the pen in 14 appearances with a 3.77 ERA. Danny Patterson has given up runs (7 in 11 appearances) but his peripherals are solid with 12K/4BB in 11.1 IP. The rest was ugly. Ledezma/Roney/Spurling/Mears all tanked in the bullpen with ERA’s over 7. Franklyn German has walked 5 in only 3.1 innings. Bonderman gave up 9 homers to go along with 15 walks and 15 strike outs in 31 innings. He did manage to win two games though. Maroth appears a lock to get 20 losses after going 1-4 for the month.

Looking Forward
Are the Tigers good enough to go 8-19 the rest of the way an avoid becoming the worst team ever? I’m not so sure. The players are feeling the pressure, and I’m worried they’ll tighten up. Also, will Tram continue to hold auditions, or play the team with the best chance of winning? Will Maroth and Bonderman reach 20 losses? Will Brandon Inge continue to swing a hot bat and claim the catching job for next year? Will the bullpen get anybody out? Will Illitch announce his intentions for adding payroll next season? This last month of the season will have lots of drama, and for mostly the wrong reasons. The Tigers have 4 games left against Cleveland, and 6 against Toronto. The remaining 17 games are against contenders. The Tigers do have the chance to have an impact on the AL Central race with 14 games left against KC and Minnesota.

It only took 130 games, but the Tigers are no longer the lowest scoring team in the majors. Last night they moved ahead of the LA Dodgers by one run. Granted, the Dogers play in the NL, and the Dogers have given up 293 fewer runs than the Tigers have allowed, and the Tigers are still 112 runs behind the next worst AL team. So while maybe it’s not really good news, at least it isn’t bad news.

…The media has really taken to ripping Mike Illitch this week. Lynn Henning called him out on Sunday, mostly for his complete silence during this season. Danny Knobler took his shot on Tuesday, attacking Illitch’s refusal to share his plans for the offseason…

…By now everyone knows the roster moves the Tigers made optioning Eckenstahler and Walbeck to Toledo for the recall of Franklyn German and Fernando Rodney. The third move of DFA-ing Steve Sparks was a little surprising. Sparks always came across as a class guy, and I hope he finds success wherever he ends up next year. In other transaction news, Peter Gammons published a list of the players who were put on waivers and blocked. Wil Ledezma was on that list…

…While everyone has been talking about the resurgence of Brandon Inge (or maybe it should just be surgence), Craig Monroe has put together a fine month and really made a push for the 4th outfielder spot next year. In addition to making a number of fine defensive plays, he’s hitting .271/.328/.610 with 6 home runs and 14 RBI…

…With September call-ups soon to be on the way, Tram will face a dilemma. What is more important, auditioning players for next year, or avoiding becoming the worst team in baseball?…

Tim D over at Tigers Central has a great analysis of the state of the team.

Diamond Mind simulated a World Series of the ’62 Mets vs. ’03 Tigers. The good news is the series went 7 games, the bad news is the Tigers lost.