Shopping With The Tigers

Free agent season begins in baseball tomorrow and the Detroit Tigers need to fill several holes. Of course, with the general managers' meetings continuing in Florida a trade is possible before Christmas, as well. Regardless, of how the new guys arrive, the Tigers could use a couple of arms in the bullpen, a thirdbaseman, a starter or two, one starting outfielder and maybe, just maybe, a closer. (Some around town have argued they could stand a new firstbaseman, as well. If they can find a way to trade for Todd Helton, then I would put firstbase very high on the list, too.)

Here is what Detroit News' beat writer Tom Gage thinks of the Tigers would-be free agent shopping list. I still can't help but cringe when the word "affordable" is mentioned in discussion about the Tigers and free agency. Force of habit, I guess. I realize the Tigs probably cannot afford Carlos Beltran. While that does disappoint me just a tad, I do get a bit more squirrely when the affordable options are named Corey Koskie. Not that Koskie is a bad player. He's not. He's also not Magglio Ordonez.

Koskie would bring a decent bat and good glove to the Tigers' thirdbase problem. (It appears the Tigers prefer Brandon Inge continuing his Tony Phillips-like super-utility role.) If Koskie is only a piece of the Tigers off-season re-tooling, then I would probably embrace the move more warmly. However, if they trot Koskie out as the big addition this winter, that ain't going to sell many seats in 2005. Nor will I be overly enthused about the likelihood of getting over .500.

Dave Dombrowski needs to repeat, to an extent, what he did last year. The Tigers do need a fairly big name arrival plus a couple of other notable additions to give this team a legitimate shot at finishing above .500 next season. (They could also sell more tickets with another inspiring off-season.) There are countless options I would be thrilled with, but I fear the Tigers may retreat to their pre-2003 shell.

Only the horror of the worst baseball season in American League history forced the Tigers into free agency a year ago. Only luck and a dash of courage yielded Ivan Rodriguez. Now, we get to find out if last winter was an anomaly or if the Tigers are going to be players in free agency. We also get to see if Pudge Rodriguez can lure any other quality players to Comerica Park, which was part of the rationale for obtaining the All-Star backstop.

The Tigers, in theory, should have some long-term money available, as well. Bobby Higginson, Rondell White, Fernando Vina (remember him?), Jason Johnson and Ugueth Urbina are all free agents when 2005 concludes. Even a significant increase in payroll (Helton, Carl Pavano, Ordonez) would only be for one season with the other deals falling off the books this time next year.

Honestly, if the Tigers feel uncomfortable about this free agent class, that's fine with me. As I said at the start, I don't care how the newcomers arrive. Trades, free agency, whatever. I do think, however, with as many needs as the Tigers have, including building on this past season's revival and selling tickets, the Tigers had best be very active this winter.

I readily admit making good decisions on player acquisition will be hard. Doing nothing this winter, or making poor decisions, could be disasterous for a team that still lacks high level quality prospects. Some things around Tigertown never seem to change.