Adding Adrian?

This from Dayn Perry, Fox Sports.com:

The Tigers, who are poised to spend quite a bit of money this off-season, have serious interest in 3B Adrian Beltre and SP Carl Pavano. 3B Troy Glaus is also a possibility, but at this point the Tigers seem to favor Beltre.

Take a deep breath, citizens of Tigertown. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Ok, feel better? Let's review this again. The Tigers are thinking of pursuing Adrian Beltre and, if that doesn't work out, may settle for Troy Glaus? Breathe in. Breathe out. Poor Buddy Bell must be even more amazed than I am.

The ex-Tiger skipper was canned, as the rumor has it, because he pushed the Tigers to bolster the team via free agency and trades. The front office and Tigers' owner Mike Ilitch balked and Bell ended up out of work for his trouble.

In the last two off-seasons, the Tigers have added Pudge Rodriguez, Rondell White, Carlos Guillen, Troy Percival and are choosing between pursuing Beltre and Glaus? Or Beltre and Carl Pavano? Oh, how the times have changed.

Yes, wanting Beltre or Glaus is much different than getting them. Convincing either of them that Detroit should be their new baseball home won't be easy. In addition, both will command fairly large deals and Beltre, in particular, will be looking for a big money, long term contract. Having Scott Boras as your agent pretty much assures that.

Both players have question marks, as well. Prior to 2004 Beltre was more of a bust than anything else. The Dodgers had waited years for the type of season Beltre posted in his contract year. That has to have some concerned. (Note: my hand is raised.)

Glaus' problems are injuries. The big guy gets dinged up quite a bit. He's a bit older than Beltre, but has played solid baseball for a number of years when not hurt. That's something Beltre can't counter. Of course, Glaus is also an erratic fielder. That's doesn't give me the warm fuzzies, either.

However, you are going to have to forgive the fan in me. I know there are risks in signing free agents. I know the Tigers won't have a $100 million payroll. I know that adding a number of free agents won't guarantee on-field success. And, right now, I don't care.

Think about it for a minute. Pudge, Dmitri Young, Beltre, Guillen in the middle of the order? Are you kidding me? Deep breath in. Deep breath out. What if they can land a decent outfielder, too?

Now, I think that Pavano is going to the Red Sox (just a hunch), but what if the Tigers can get a Matt Clement, too? Clement, Beltre, Percival and a CF to be named later? I might have to buy season tickets, again.

For just this second, I'm going to leave caution and responsibility on Dave Dombrowski's doorstep. I'm too excited about the possibility of watching a much better than average team in 2005. Yeah, yeah, the Tigers could end up with little more than Percival, don't be so darn pessimistic. Save that for tomorrow.

Right now, just enjoy that the Tigers appear to me amongst the players in Major League Baseball, again. As little as three years ago, that was just plain folly. Ask Bell, or even Phil Garner, if you don't believe me.

Let's live with the hope that if Dombrowski and company can land Pudge, they might be able to do even more. Hey, it's almost the holiday season. Share a little hope with your friendly, neighborhood blogger. (Besides, there will be plenty of time to be critical later.)

Update: Albert Chen of SI.com said the Tigers "could even be considered a front-runner to land Adrian Beltre. " Here is his entire piece. The paragraph on the Tigers is very interesting.