In my last post, I lamented the Detroit Tigers inactivity during the just concluded Winter Meetings. However, as much as I want to see the ballclub make some moves to improve, I do not want Dave Dombrowski shelling out long term, big money deals just to appease bozos like me.
I read today that Derek Lowe, a player many want the Tigers to sign, is looking for a deal around twelve million dollars a year. I'd like to have Lowe with Detroit, but let's get two things straight. First, Lowe is not, never has been and never will be a legitimate number one starter. Honestly, as good as the Dearborn native was in the post-season for Boston, I think Jeremy Bonderman has better stuff. Tim Hudson is a number one starter. As is Randy Johnson. Lowe, even on the Tigers, looks like a number two guy at best.
That said, and secondly, there is no way in the world the Tigers should even consider giving Lowe anything above ten million a year. Do you really want to give a guy ten, eleven or twelve million a year although he might not even be your Opening Day starter? Lowe's numbers have been in decline for years and he plays for a championship team. Can we really expect a twelve million dollar performance from Lowe just because he dons the Old English D?
Lowe would be a solid addition, but not at that price. I know the market has gone up again this off-season, but I just can't see the Tigers giving Lowe or Matt Clement that kind of coin. I don't mean to hammer Lowe, either. He's not alone. I thought Troy Glaus got too much, as did Steve Finley. I'm not sure about J.D. Drew, either. In light of his injury history, giving Drew anything over six million a season seems crazy to me.
I'd rather skip both Lowe and Drew and give fifteen million a year to Adrian Beltre. He is young, plays a position the Tigers are looking to fill and has far more upside than either Lowe or Drew. Sure, Beltre has questions, too, but he's got years ahead of him. Plus one monster season behind him.
At twenty-five and playing in the bigs for seven years, the same amount of time as Drew as been in The Show, Beltre has twenty more homers and 127 more RBI. Drew is also three years older. Drew may have some more solid seasons ahead, but I worry the Tigers are going to make a Bobby Higginson-type contract offer to Drew only to end up with similar results.
Yes, I'm all in favor of the headline grabbing free agent signing. (Insert my daily plea to talk to Scott Boras about Magglio Ordonez here.) I'm also in favor of not painting the franchise into the corner for another decade waiting for bad contracts to come off the books. It's fun contemplating the Tigers next move, but it's no fun when they can't make a move because they are all tapped out of money.
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