Jon Heyman of SI.com and MLB Network tweeted that the Yankees have struck again, this time nabbing another former Tiger favorite in Marcus Thames.

Thames signed a minor league deal that will pay him $900,000 if he makes the major league club this year. Thames originally made it to the majors with the Yankees back in 2002, when he famous homered in his first big league at bat, an at bat that came against Randy Johnson.

The past six years in Detroit, Thames established himself as a streaky power threat. Although he has never been given even 400 plate appearances in any one season, Thames has twice clubbed better than 20 homers in a year. 99 of his 101 career long balls came in a Tigers uniform. He slugged better than .500 with an OPS of .808 during his tenure with the Tigers. He was removed from the roster following this past season and made a free agent.

This is a sad day at MCB, as Thames has long been a favorite of mine. We wish him well and hope he is able to stick with the Yankees big club. As Jim Leyland has said about Marcus, “That guy is a three run homer waiting to happen.”

The first time many of you will get to (or be forced to) see Thames and again-teammate Curtis Granderson with the Yankess will be on March 21. That’s the third of four Spring Training games to be televised on FSN Detroit this spring. FSD also announced the regular season TV schedule today.

According to the release, 161 of the 162 games will be broadcast this season, with four of those being tabbed for Saturday telecasts on big Fox. 156 games will be broadcast on FSD, one game is currently slated for FSD Plus and just one game, April 7 at Kansas City, currently un-aired. On that date, the Tigers play at the same time as the Pistons and Red Wings, whose games are already scheduled for FSN airwaves.

Greg Hammaren, Senior VP/GM of Fox Sports Detroit, said “It is our goal to provide coverage of all three of our teams’ games on April 7 to create a great triple-header of Detroit sports. We’ll know in the coming weeks if that will be possible.”

Considering that date marks just the second game of the season, and the possible debut of Max Scherzer in a Tigers uniform, one would hope they can work something out. Typically, MLB Extra Innings runs a free preview week during the first week of the season, so out-of-towners will likely be able to pick up the Kansas City feed of the game, but if you are in the local viewing area, you will be blacked out and may have to subscribe to MLB.tv to see that game.

The Tigers made official the Justin Verlander deal at a press conference yesterday. MLB.com’s Jason Beck has the details. Verlander’s contract will pay him a $500,000 signing bonus in addition to a $6.75 MM salary in 2010, $12.75 MM in 2011, and $20 MM in each of the following three seasons.

The bottom line is the Tigers and Verlander both got a deal they could be happy with, and while there is obviously significant risk is handing such a large sum of money to one player, Verlander is a guy the team feels comfortable investing in. In his four seasons, he’s never found himself on the DL, and his offseason workout program is something the team and the player believe will keep him healthy through the life of the contract.

Beck also talks about clubs with multiple $20 MM men, which is where the Tigers will be in 2012, Miguel Cabrera being the other. Given the increase in player salaries every season, however, I doubt the Tigers will be in such rare company by that time.

Elsewhere around the league, the Nationals reportedly have a deal with utility infielder Adam Kennedy, a player who has been linked to the Tigers. With Kennedy headed to the Nationals, and the Twins having signed Orlando Hudson (you like how I just slipped that in there? More in a bit.), Detroit should be in line to snare Felipe Lopez.

I’m not sure the interest from either party, or the money that would be available for another player, but Lopez fits the biggest need the Tigers still have; a top of the order switch hitter who can play multiple infield positions.

Get it done, DD.

Now, back to those pesky Twins. Via press release last night, they announced the Hudson signing. The Twins have been spending like the Yankees this winter, bringing in J.J. Hardy by trade, signing Hudson and Jim Thome, and apparently they still have money to continue extension talks with Joe Mauer. To top it off, Francisco Liriano seems to have found himself again while pitching in winter ball. None of this is good news for Detroit. The Tigers might easily be playing for second place in a still sub-par division, the Twins look like the best team.

But as we all know, games are not played on paper, they’re played inside TV sets. If a few things go right for the Tigers, and maybe a few wrong for the Twins, Detroit can compete for a playoff spot again this season.

According to the Associated Press, the Tigers have agreed to a five-year, $80 MM contract with Justin Verlander. The deal could be announced as early as today.

Verlander and the Tigers had been working towards a long-term deal for the past few weeks, since they exchanged arbitration figures at the beginning of January. Verlander had asked for $9.5 MM while the Tigers had countered with $6.9 MM. The deal will continue Dave Dombrowski’s streak of avoiding arbitration with his players. No Tiger has gone to a hearing since 2003.

What this deal also does is cements the idea that the November trade of Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson was not financially driven. At the time that deal was made, the sky was falling on the Tigers franchise, according to national media members. The words “fire sale” were tossed around and the likes of Peter Gammons and Ken Rosenthal began dreaming up one-sided deals the Tigers would be forced to accept to send players like Verlander and Miguel Cabrera off to the RedSox and Yankees.

But Dombrowski and manager Jim Leyland both maintained the trade wasn’t about the money, that it was a baseball decision. Verlander’s new deal, coupled with the $14 MM handed out to closer Jose Valverde shows the Tigers were true to their word. They simply took the opportunity to sell high of Jackson and Granderson. Continue Reading »

For those of you that don’t know me, my name is John Parent and I will be taking the reigns as lead blogger here at Motor City Bengals. As a result, you will see some changes made to the site, but a lot of what you come here for will remain as well.

Joe Dexter will continue his fantastic work on his weekly podcasts, and you will still find some of his writing as well. The work Joe has done in building this site is one of the biggest reasons I chose to accept the offer to take over. I have no intention of tearing down what Joe has done, only to build upon the foundation that is already here.

That said, I will also be bringing my own style to the concepts and content of MCB. If you’re not familiar with my work, I have been blogging about the Tigers for over a year. I have launched two blogs, Always A Tiger and Tigers Tracks, and have also written for Baseball-Reflections, Bleacher Report, and the Detroit Tigers Den. Now I will bring my work here, exclusively, full-time.

Think of this as a merger. The plan is to continue the type of work I was doing at Tigers Tracks, and to add a few new wrinkles, as well. You can expect to find a much larger volume of posts than you have found here in the past. I will be recapping every game during the season, while also bringing you news and analysis of every roster move, mis-judged fly ball, and walk-off homer. It is my goal to make MCB the #1 baseball site on the network. I am confident that by adding my writing to Joe’s podcasts we can make it happen.

And that’s where you come in, dear readers. I want to encourage all of you to make sure your voice is heard here as well. I can promise you that all of your comments are appreciated, even if, sometimes especially if, your opinions differ from my own. One of the great things about baseball is the discussions of the game. MCB will be a place you can have those discussions and disagreements. Just make sure to keep the arguments as professional as possible, personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Over the next several days, the site will be undergoing some changes as I import my archives from my old site, add to the blogroll, and generally personalize MCB. During this time, I will be posting new work as well and planning new projects.

In closing, I want to thank the fine folks at FanSided for having the confidence to offer me this position. I couldn’t have hoped for a better opportunity to build something special.

So now that the Yankees have spurned Johnny Damon by signing Randy Winn, the Tigers are said to be where Damon wants to play in 2010. Satan’s Minion, Scott Boras, who represents Damon, recently spoke to the Detroit News about a conversation he had with his client back in December.

“I can make the Detroit Tigers a winner” Boras quoted Damon to Lynn Henning. Boras then went on to detail how before signing his last two free agent deals, Damon had said the same thing about Boston and New York. Of course, it wasn’t until his third year in Boston, and fourth in New York, that Damon actually did make each of those teams a winner. At age 36, Damon and the Tigers don’t have the luxury of waiting for it to happen.

The fact is the Tigers are not Damon’s first choice. The Yankees were his first choice, they didn’t feel he was worth the money. The A’s are probably his second choice, or maybe Atlanta or Tampa, or even Cincinnati, all of whom have been linked to Damon in various rumors.

Early in the offseason, Damon apparently turned down a two year, $14 MM contract offer from New York, now the offers have dried up and he’ll likely have to settle for one year at around $4 MM. At that price, Damon is a good value and the Tigers will likely pounce, but if he signs with Detroit, you can bet it won’t be because he really wanted to play here. At this point, he’ll be happy just to find work.

While having Damon at the top of the lineup would make the Tigers a significantly more potent offense, he would present a roadblock of sorts to either the development of Austin Jackson or more likely the playing time of Ryan Raburn.  Dave Dombrowski has already stated that the club is prepping Raburn for full-time duty this season and I figure he has the inside track to handle the lead-off duties in 2010. Damon joining the roster would put a stop to all that noise and Raburn would be left to wait for Carlos Guillen to hit the DL. At least he won’t have to wait long. Continue Reading »

The Minnesota Twins have a way about them.

Last year, about this time, there was a free agent on the market that had a history of great success versus the Tigers. Minnesota engaged that free agent in contract talks and eventually outbid the Giants for his services. And while Joe Crede certainly did not have a stellar year for Minnesota, hampered with lingering back issues, he did perform when it came to facing the Tigers once again.

Mid-season, the Twins did it again, nabbing another player with a history of dominance over Detroit. This time it was Carl Pavano, aquired in a trade with Cleveland. Pavano had been 4-0 against the Tigers in 2009 before the trade, and although the Tigers did eventually hand a loss on him, he too helped the Twins to surpass Detroit for the divisional crown.

Now, Minnesota has struck once more.

The Twins reportedly have agreed to a one year $1.5 million deal with free agent DH Jim Thome, perhaps the most notorious Tiger Killer of them all. Thome’s days of playing first base are behind him, and Jason Kubel does most of the DHing in the Twins Cities, but rest assured that Thome will be in the lineup whenever the opponent is Detroit. Maybe they’d like to kick our dogs while they’re at it, too.

In 191 games against the Tigers, Thome has an OPS of 1.075, his highest mark against any AL team. He has 60 career home runs against Detroit, his best mark versus any team, and his .636 slugging percentage is also the highest. Not even the powers of Justin Verlander can suppress the mighty Thome, as he has taken JV deep seven times in only 41 at bats.

Translation: we’re screwed.

There was a Dontrelle Willis sighting over the weekend at TigerFest, and Drew Sharp of the Free Press wonders if we can expect to see a more successful Willis in 2010. Sharp’s article outlines the path Willis has taken to become more mentally healthy and all initial signs say that he has come to grips with his emotions.

At this point, how that affects his performance on the field is anyone’s guess, but if he can come back and just be healthy enough to compete, I would view it as a victory for Willis. Let’s hope that translates to victories for the Tigers.

If you would all indulge me for a moment, I am going to step away from unbiased analysis for a moment. I know the arguments, there is no cure for Steve Blass disease, the Tigers should cut him loose, we cannot afford any charity starts for a guy who can’t find the plate. If only for this few minutes as I write this, I am choosing to reject those arguments. I want Dontrelle on this team. I want him to succeed, or at least be given every opportunity to fail.

It has nothing to do with money for me, only my own selfish joy that I get watching great pitchers pitch. Make no mistake, Willis was great. From watching even his worst efforts last season, you could see the stuff was still there. If somehow he can find a way to harness that, he can be at least good again. And I would be pulling for him no matter what uniform he wears.

And speaking of comebacks, Brandon Inge has been cleared to resume baseball activities following surgery on both knees. He is said to be ahead of schedule, so he should be ready to play in game by the final couple of weeks of Spring Training. Hopefully he can regain his pre-all star break form of 2009. In a lineup with so many question marks, a strong start by Inge would help smooth the transition of Austin Jackson and Scott Sizemore to their major league roles.

In other news, Billfer passed along a tweet saying that Jeff Larish was outrighted to AAA. The Tigers are now safely back to 40 on the roster after adding Jose Valverde last week. Jason Beck confirmed in a tweet of his own.

Let me finish up by wishing a very happy 92nd birthday to Mr. Ernie Harwell. The unquestioned voice of the Tigers is turning out articles for the Free Press again, and while his battle with inoperable cancer won’t end in victory, I’m glad he was able to have another birthday. It is my hope that his final days are filled with comfort and happiness. God bless you, Ernie. And thank you for filling my childhood with memories. There will never be another like him.

Yet another former player has decided that Mark McGwire’s recent steroid admission and apology are not good enough for them. Ferguson Jenkins continued the trend by sending an open letter to the Associated Press in which he asserted that McGwire’s steroid-filled career “altered lives” of pitchers who gave up home runs to him.

Seriously, that’s what he said.

Nevermind that this is the same Jenkins, who is Canadian, that in 1980 was arrested at Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium when officials discovered cocaine and marijuana in his suitcase. He was convicted on drug possession charges later that year, only to see the conviction immediately erased by a Canadian judge who cited his “exemplary conduct”. It should be noted that Jenkins is/was a national hero in Canada at the time.

So much the same as Jack Clark and Carlton Fisk, Jenkins feels that McGwire owes more than he has given. If it were up to these men, I’m sure McGwire would have to walk door-to-door, personally apologizing to each and every human on the planet for his past transgressions. Jenkins would have Mac visiting mental hospitals, where he would meet with all the former pitchers who have been driven to the asylum after their own lack of success in keeping McGwire in the yard.

Except that’s not the way it works.

Jenkins asserts that there were many pitchers whose careers, lives in fact, were significantly altered when McGwire took them deep. “How many pitchers do you think he ended their careers by hitting numbers of home runs of them?” Jenkins asked in a telephone interview with the AP.

My guess: Probably not very many.

In fact, I can’t recall a single pitcher leaving baseball, either by his own choice or his teams, immediately upon allowing a McGwire home run.

I also find it entertaining that ESPN.com’s article on the matter listed several prominent pitchers who allowed a home run to McGwire in what turned out to be their final season. Among them, Bert Blyleven (who was in his 22nd season), Orel Hershiser (who was well past his own prime), and Donnie Moore. Moore certainly had his life altered by allowing home runs, but it wasn’t the one he gave up to McGwire, I don’t think. The Moore family has Dave Henderson and Don Baylor to thank for that.

But since ESPN has such a wonderful history of turning their analysts into the story (see James, Craig), why not have Hershiser make an appearance on Outside the Lines where he can talk about the effects of McGwire’s home run on his own life. Perhaps Hershiser can detail the years of counseling he has had to undergo, show us the bills from his psychiatrist. I’m sure Jenkins will tell you that Hershiser would have fared better as the Rangers’ pitching coach if not for having to face a juiced up McGwire.

In all seriousness though, this is just plain dumb.

Jenkins has done what Clark and Fisk have already done, cast the spotlight upon themselves one last time. Anything to get another 15 minutes I guess.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again. McGwire doesn’t owe me anything, nor does he owe anything to Jenkins, or any of the pitchers he took deep. How many pitchers, I wonder, were using steroids when they faced McGwire? The answer is probably more than anyone would guess.

It’s time to quit whining. Jenkins and people of his ilk are just bitter. The steroid era happened, no amount of bellyaching is going to change that. Accept it, and move on.