Tigers Mentioned as Suitor for Carl Crawford

In wake of Jayson Werth‘s ridiculously huge contract, most figured that meant only good things for fellow free agent Carl Crawford. Not so fast, says ESPN’s Jayson Stark. In his latest piece for the website, Stark ran through Crawford’s potential landing spots and noted how few of them would be willing and able to give the speedy left fielder the contract he could demand.

The Tigers haven’t been widely discussed as a fit for Crawford, but Stark says they are interested.

"OK, how about the Tigers? They have definite interest. And they have definite Ilitch family dollars to spend.But they’ve already committed $89.25 million this winter to Victor Martinez, Joaquin Benoit,Brandon Inge and Jhonny Peralta. And they already have one player on the payroll who’s working on an eight-year contract — Miguel Cabrera (who is three years into an eight-year, $152.3 million extension). So can the Tigers venture into this neighborhood? Hard to say, but not likely."

Going back to the end of the season, when Johnny Damon commented on the Tigers pursuing Crawford, fans have been drooling over the possibility of signing him. But the short list has appeared to be Boston, New York, and Anaheim, with the Angels appearing to be front-runners. This information doesn’t change that perspective, but it does lend credence to the notion that Dave Dombrowski still has eyes on a big fish.

Most expected that Werth, not Crawford, was in the plans for Detroit, but Dombrowski shot that down after Werth’s deal with Washington was announced, saying that they were never in on Werth at all.

The Tigers are known to be seeking outfield help and although they have penciled Ryan Raburn into the starting left field job, Raburn could shift over to right if a talent like Crawford were to come to Motown.

In all likelihood, the Tigers probably won’t wind up as serious bidders for Crawford, but at least this is fun to talk about. Imagine slotting Crawford into the three hole, just ahead of Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez. It sure could take the sting out of potentially losing Magglio Ordonez, that’s for sure.

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