Tigers sign Thames and Rodney

The Tigers signed Marcus Thames and Fernando Rodney to one year deals. Both were arbitration eligible. Terms weren’t disclosed, but I’ll guess that Thames gets $1.8 million and Rodney gets $2.1 million. It looks like Rodney gets $2.7 million.

That leaves Gerald Laird, Edwin Jackson, Justin Verlander, Joel Zumaya, and Bobby Seay as the arbitration eligible players left to be signed. The Tigers have not gone to arbitration with a player since Dave Dombrowski took over.

19 thoughts on “Tigers sign Thames and Rodney”

  1. that means Rodney gets paid approximately $45,000 per inning if he closes 60 games. And you guys think the Tigers are wasting money. Heck that’s about $100,000 per save if he saves 27 games. Can you hear me laughing as I type this.

  2. Or you could look at it from the standpoint that Rodney is a half win to a full win above replacement level. The market is paying $4.8 million per win above replacement level. So Rodney got about what he should have.

  3. Time to take advantage of Verlander’s crappy season and sign him to a 5/30 contract.

    Still don’t get the Rodney hate. I also hope he’s not closing games in ’09, but he’s above league average. 10K/9 and a 1.41 WHIP aren’t terrible. Really. Rodney or Fossum? Rodney or Glover? Not his fault if he’s the closer.

  4. All due respect, I don’t think Verlander (or more appropriately his agent) is going to be clamoring to sign a long term extension coming off a down year. That just doesn’t make sense for the player. If he’s going to re-up with the Tigers at any point, it will likely be after this season if the Tigers decide to buy out his arbitration years.

    EDIT: I didn’t realize Verlander was arbitration eligible right now (I thought he had 1 more year). Maybe the Tigers will do something longer term to get some cost certainty with him. Perhaps that’s why they’ve been fairly frugal this offseason.

  5. OK, there’s not really a proper thread to post this, but I thought some of my fellow commenters would get a kick out of it. From a Keith Law chat on ESPN. The ham sandwich thing is spreading like bird flu:

    Oden (Motown): I’ll bide my time hoping that Tram and Lou get inducted together by the Vet’s committee. I know, I am dreaming. Uou are a GM, and I promise you Alan Trammell and his career, or Ozzie Smith and his, who would you select? I gotta go with Tram, the extra O clearly outweighs the (still very good) lesser D.

    Keith Law: (1:53 PM ET ) I wouldn’t wait on the Vets Committee. One year, they got their Hall ballot confused with their lunch menu and accidentally inducted a ham sandwich to the Hall of Fame. It’s not even the worst selection they’ve ever made.

  6. Tigers are talking to Isringhausen and Lyon per Jason Beck. I know David Aarsdma has perennial control issues and has more or less sucked but he has a big arm and is young, cheap and available. Red Sox waived him today. He is the kind of guy who could suddenly figure things out. Toledo?

  7. I agree with Billfer that Rodney got a fair deal. Sure, we remember the meltdowns, but when you look at the season stats, he is an above-average pitcher. His opponent’s on-base percentage was about average, but his opponent’s batting average was about 50 points lower than average. Also, he allowed fewer than average home runs. And for you strikout fans, he was far above average. However, strikeouts don’t impress me, especially with a pitcher that walks a lot of guys….think double plays.

    You know, something that peeves me about baseball recently is the media’s propensity to use the strikeout to walk ratio. I say they don’t have anything to do with each other. A guy that walks too many guys still walks too many guys regardless of how many he strikes out. I would MUCH rather have a pitcher that walks nobody and strikes out nobody than a guy that walks a ton and strikes out a ton.

    I was looking back at the 2006 pitching staff compared to the 2008 pitching staff and the difference is walks. To a man, the 2006 staff walked fewer than the league average, and the 2008 staff walked more (or roughly equal) than the league average; Lopez and Glover are the exceptions. Perhaps our new pitching coach can reverse that trend.

  8. I wish the Big 3 would give the Tigers some of that bail-out money so that they can get a real closer. They’ll probably waste the money on the Lions instead.

  9. no one complains about the Rodney money because it is in line ..the only complaint is the inconsistent production for the $$$$$

    1. But the inconsistent production is reflected in the stats that reflect he is paid accordingly. I guess I’m still confused about the complaint.

  10. Chris in Dallas,

    I for one appreciated the reference to that sandwich which is now unmentionable, as mandated by myself to myself. It clearly transcends time, gender, race, religion, and now is even in the hall of fame. Wow.

  11. Coach: That’s why they talk about the ratio. If a guy is striking out 3 guys for every 1 walk, that means either a) he’s not walking anyone or b) he’s striking out a heck of a lot of guys, which would negate higher walk totals to a degree.

  12. I don’t think strikeouts negate walks, that’s what I’m trying to say. An out is an out, whether it’s a K or 6-3…and you don’t get any DPs from a K, which is important after you walk the leadoff batter in the 9th.

  13. I suppose I can see your point. A K is the best kind of out, though. Bad things can happen when the ball is put in play…

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