Peter Gammons latest offering (which is now Insider – damn ESPN) has some rumors about the Tigers pursuit of bullpen help. Actually, the article isn’t about that at all, but it does mention the Tigers.
Among the rumblings are that Bob Howry turned down $13.5 million from the Tigers to sign with the Cubs for $12 million over 3 years. Gammons also has sources speculating that the Tigers and Indians had offered 4 year deals to BJ Ryan (who signed for 5 years with the Blue Jays). However, my sources indicate that while Ryan was wined and dined and toured the Birmingham area he left town without an offer from the Tigers. (I know I don’t frequently have sources, but I believe my information to be pretty solid here).
I had hoped that the Tigers would be able to land Kyle Farnsworth. However, it appears that he will be a Yankee (I know, another subscription site) for 3 years and $17 million. The report states that the Tigers were among several teams who had offered 3/15. Given the price of relief pitching, that actually seems affordable.
The Tigers need to bolster their bullpen. I’m not giving up on Fernando Rodney as closer, but they need more talent before Rodney (or whoever the closer becomes) even gets the ball.
3/17??? Isn’t that half of what he was offered 5 months ago?
I think he was offered something in the 3/10-12 range in July.
Ahh, for some reason I thought it was 10 per year. I guess that explains why he didn’t bite. That kinda changes my opinion on DD’s “Well, we tried our best” attitude. We probably could have gone as high as 3/15 without breaking the bank (or overpaying).
One of my friends was mulling over the bullpen with me, and he threw out Nate Cornejo as a closer. My eyebrows nearly fell off in astonishment. Just sayin’.
Dammit, Farns. Dammit.
Cornejo probably wouldn’t be a bad idea as a closer, but only if you’re talking about the pre-injury Nate Cornejo. He simply must get healthy first. He spent all of last year down in Erie, and he didn’t perform very well at all. No big shock that they shut him down early to boot.
You usually want a closer to have a fantastic K rate, and Cornejo’s K rate went down precipitously after his injury (or injuries), and it wasn’t back last year, either.
Rodney has some serious talent, but he performs well as a setup guy. We need someone who has been closing for their entire careers. It’s about time the Tigers got some free agnet love, too! We’ve made some All Star signings the past two years, but we actually took a step backwards this year. It could hurt us… We better score 10 a game, since it looks like our pitching staff is going nowhere fast.