2007 Season, Contracts

Tigers continue to shell out the big bucks

14 Comments

First went Rick Porcello, now it looks like the Tigers are dishing out more money. Lynn Henning reports that the Tigers have an agreement with 5th round pick Casey Crosby in the 800K neighborhood. The right handed high school pitcher from Illinois hums along in the low 90’s and was thought to be a sandwich pick (all those extra picks between the 1st and 2nd rounds) but slid due to those wonderful signability issues.

Meanwhile BA reports that the Tigers are close to a $1.5 million deal with 6th round pick, shortstop Cale Iorg. (Hat Tip: Take 75 North) Iorg is coming off a 2 year mission and has a verbal commitment to ASU. The same article mentions that the Tigers also inked 26th round pick Matt Hoffman, a prep lefty.

Getting both Crosby and Porcello in the fold is a huge boost to the system and both could factor in newly developed top 10 lists. Adding Iorg would just be icing on the cake at this point. I haven’t seen any reports on 10th round pick Dominic De La Osa.

14 thoughts on “Tigers continue to shell out the big bucks”

  1. Just off the top of my head without putting much thought into it, I’d put this as the top 10 list for the Tigers, in my opinion:

    Maybin
    Porcello
    Jurrjens
    De La Cruz
    Crosby
    Iorg
    Sizemore
    Trahern
    Furbush
    Fragoso

    Although, with some thought a lot of that could probably change.

  2. I know you were going quick, but I think you forgot Gorkys. Also, I’d have Hollimon, Worth, and Larish on there over probably Sizemore, Furbush, and Fragoso. But that’s just me quickly off the top of my head.

  3. Yeah, I took out Gorkys on accident when I rearranged because I forgot about Iorg.

    I’d put Gorkys either between Crosby and DLC or right after Crosby.

    I don’t consider much from Hollimon — putting up alright numbers as a 25 year old in Double-A.

    I’m not sure Worth will hit all that much, though he’s had a very good start in Lakeland. If he can continue to post .770+ OPS with his glove, he’d easily be in there.

    I’m not high on Larish — ton of K’s, can’t hit for average, old for his level. Sizemore is Hollimon but younger and at a level where he should be regarding his age. I think Furbush is a sleep from the 06 draft. Good stuff. Big frame, and LHP. I’d drop Fragoso after re-inserting Gorkys.

  4. Just took a peek at some numbers and Larish is walking more then I thought. So I guess I can’t knock him that much.

    So it’d be:
    Maybin
    Porcello
    Jurrjens
    De La Cruz
    Gorkys
    Crosby
    Iorg
    Sizemore
    Trahern
    Larish

    With Worth, Hollimon, Furbush, etc really close behind.

  5. De La Osa goes/went to Vanderbilt, which is in my neck of the woods, and the word is, he is going to come back to school after a less than stellar Cape Cod league peformance this summer which is a wooden bat league. This is the 2nd time the Tigers have drafted him and he had a monster year at Vandy this past season. The Tigers must see something in him, but he was thinking of being a first round pick, not a 10th, so I think he isn’t going to sign.

  7. billfer, you mentioned that they would add Porcello to the 40 man roster….I am not familiar with the roster rules, etc…why would they put him on the 40 man roster this year?

    also, Iorg played for my alma mater, Univ. of Alabama, before his mission. good player–smart, and a good kid. glad he is going to be a Tiger (likely)

  10. Porcello will go on the 40-man roster because he signed a major league contract. They will use his options to send him to the minors, but it seriously limits how long he can stay down there, and the major league 5-year clock is ticking for arbitration/free agency.

    Cale Iorg is the pick that has me puzzled. He’s been a missionary for 2 years – he hasn’t played since 2005. What are they basing his draft on?

  11. thanks Jim–I didn’t know that the clock started ticking this year, but I guess that makes sense.

    I watched Iorg a good bit at Alabama…he’s a pretty good player with decent bloodlines (father and uncle played mlb), but I agree–he will be rusty.

    Al Avila’s son plays for Alabama, and he is very familiar with their team/program–has been for a few years, so I guess that may have helped.

  12. Actually his fa/arb clock is based entirely on service time, so that doesn’t tick until he reaches the bigs. He’ll receive 4 options years, so he’ll need to be there to stay by 2011. In that case he wouldn’t be a fa until 2017.

  13. How good of a prospect is Porcello? Still don’t seem him kain the 40 man roster. The Tigs have a lot of young pitchers who may be due a stay on the 40 man.

  14. I’ll take Billfer’s word for it. I heard about the clock thing on 1270 on the way home from work. Maybe they were blurring major league contract vs. major league playing time.

    At any rate, I think there is a provision that a player’s salary cannot drop more than 20% a year, so he’s bound to be making big money in his 5th year, no matter how well he does.

    True?

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