i agree let everett and rodney walk and get polanco back i am not so sure about lyon if he walks he walks.........

you get rid of Polanco and I am never watching the Tigers again!!!!!

you guys better keep polly and lyon...also go after podsednick and dye

i wont be a tigers fan anymore if they dont re-sign polanco

if Dombrowski doesn't resign Polanco he is crazy. Give him whatever he wants. I am not even opposed to dumping Inge. He is great in the field but the lineup cannot survive with a guy that hits .216 to .230 every year. Dump Everett, Lyon and Rodney and use the saved payroll to fill the spots with decent hitters. The Tigers definitly need a decent closer. With Rodney in there the antacid industry makes a fortune fromTiger fans alone.

Oh yeah BTW get rid of Leyland he is way to cautious of a manager. Detroit needs to bring in a manager that has some guts and wants to fire the Tigers up with some grit to try more hit and runs, base stealing, and squeeze plays. Leyland plays the caution to the wind game and that just doesnt get it done.

"Dombrowski has got to be bumming that he can't add to this potent team"
He has to be bumming that this team is full of underachievers that never played up to their real potential
The 2009 Tigers were about as potent as they were underpaid . . . NOT!!

Fernando Rodney not resigned? He had a career year with 37 saves! He only blew one save opportunity, though he lost an important game to Minnesota. Is that the way they reward their players?
If Detroit were smart, they would unload Miquel Cabrara. He's a young punk, wife beater, who showed up to the most important game of the season with a hangover! If the Tigers keep him, and dump the players who were responsible for a good year, it sends the wrong message to the team.

ERA is the most pointless stat for a closer (well, other than wins maybe). Doesn't matter if it's 5 or 1. If he gets the job done when you need him then he's valuable.
Problem is, how much do you pay Rodney? NO closer is worth $10M, and Rodney could get $8M on the market.....way too high, but some team may be dumb enough to give it to him.
The Tigers were not a good team this year, they just lucked out being in the crappiest division in a while (sine the Padres won the West with like 82 wins one year). They have a nice 1-2 punch developing though with Verlander and Porcello, and Jackson looks to be a solid 3. I'd let most of those free agents walk and make sure I locked up Verlander long term first.
As much as it would pain me to see (Indians fan), Omar Vizquel could do Everrett's job and for half the cost. Tigers shouldn't overpay for a SS here. Between Raburn, Santiago, and prospect Scott Sizemore, 2B should be 'ok'. Polanco is getting past his prime and won't be worth what he'll command here in the coming years.
Brandon Lyon is the one guy I'd look to bring back though. Decent setup guys are always good to have around, and could even use him as closer if need be (would be way cheaper than Rodney).

Your right about Lyon, Matt
Should spend a few bucks to keep him. Don't know if he can fill Rodney's shoe's though, as a closer. Wouldn't hurt trying. Borderman is returning, though. He could be a decent closer.

ERA is pointless for closers? are you out of your cotton picking mind?
it's almost impossible to blow saves holding a 2-3 runs lead in the 9th. pitchers fluke out saves and wins all the time. ERA correctly predicts future success/failure. chances are, closers with poor ERAs but high save totals would fall back to earth the next year because they just aren't good enough. (anyone remember joe borowski? mike williams?jorge julio?braden looper? danny graves? chris reitsma? just to name a few)
rodney 37 saves 1 blown save season is obviously a fluke. he sucks so bad that he wouldn't even be a set up man on most teams.
closer is the most overrated role in sports. any decent reliever can close. paying them any more than you would pay your top notch setup man is ridiculous.

a's hooter: lyon has closing experience. he's not great, but he gets the job done. rodney is nothing special either. his peripherals and ERAs are horrible, not to mention he displays poor control (a lot of walks) and quite hittable for a closer. he's a middle reliever, not a closer.

Why don't the Tigers trust their farm system, the Twins every year lose one or two of their best players and somehow always manage to bring someone up from the minors to fill in the spots and do a good job. The Tigers feel that they have to go out and pay some old veteran like Dye millions of dollars for 5 years only to get taken again and again, play the kids. Polanco would be a big lost, but Dum dum can't afford to pay him because of all the previous contracts that he is stuck with, getting a good hitting catcher would be nice too.

the players the twins bring up are horrible players: tolbert, morales, buscher, casilla, etc.
they still win because gardenhire is a smart guy and they got some big names like joe mauer, justin morneau and back then torii hunter, johan santana carrying the team.
even the twins need to rely on midseason trades to make the playoffs: orlando cabrera, carl pavano, ron mahay.
farm system is a joke.

It doesnt help paying Maggs 18 mil next season

Everett is easily replaceable but he probably wants to stay regardless. Polanco must be re-signed. It would be nice to secure the Lyon-Rodney closing 1-2 but it probably is gonna cost a good chunk of money. Tigers definitely need a left handed power hitter, since Huff did not deliver and a left handed starter, since Washburn looks to be done. But then this is probably what every contending team is looking for.

get rid of Huff - all he did was choke the minute he put on a tigers uniform...20 hits and 13 RBIs as a protector of miguel cabrera is pathetic...and as for the guy who said get rid of cabrera? HA - he is one of the few, if not the only spark in this line up...his first time up at bat, homer, now you have a 3-1 lead - pitching blew that game, not cabrera...and as for rodney - i am sick of the bubble guts i get when he steps on the mound with a slight lead in the 9th, only to watch him load the bases on walks and lose the game...ryan perry should be molded into their closer of the future

Polanco is gonna be gone folks. His play has declined the last two years straight. He's 34 and looking for a big contract. The tigers best young prospect is a 2B. I liked poly too...until he struck out TWICE with runners on 3rd and less than 2 outs against minn. He's supposed to be such a great handler of the bat, but he sucked when we needed exactly that. His skills are leaving and so is he. Too bad we cant dump Ordonez and Guillen too. This team has been nothing but frustration for 2 years straight. Keep the pitchers and build a small ball team the right way.

Let'em all walk we wil get back tons of draft picks. Last count would 9 extra early round picks. Not including Aubry Huff.

I used to think Dombrowski was top 3 GM - then he lost his mind after trip to world series.
I dont' expect anyone to read this entire post, but I had to get it off of my chest. :)
First the Jurjenns trade is something I will never understand - even had Renteria worked out that was puzzling at best. Now the Braves have him as their ACE!!!
The reason we have no depth is because of ridiculous trades of our top prospects that he had originally done a great job of drafting and developing.
Why do we play Clet instead of Ramirez? Ramirez is faster, has more Power, better avg and is a MUCH better base runner - he can actually steal for crying out loud. I don't get it. Don't we lack base stealers?
Why Leyland stuck with Parrish for so long is beyond me.
The only reason we can't keep everyone after this season is due to ridiculous "Re-signings".
Bonderman 12 million - even when healthy he doesn't justify that salary.
Sheff getting paid even more - for a DH, and then receiving an extension when we all ready have a bunch of DH's is beyond absurd...well unless you bring up Willis. :)
How do you re-sign someone who isn't a FA yet and has gotten worse every single year - to 9 million per?
Is it really that hard to find a LH pitcher that you can justify Nate getting 8 million per OR Willis 9 million?
Mags WAS tradable. You can't pay a guy 18 million to hit singles and can't play D - unless he really is going to maintain a plus 350 avg for entire season - but even then, he should only be a DH, so how can you pay him same as Miguel?
Letting that contract extension kick in was poor financial management. I understand he's a fan favorite, but this is a business. winning is the goal. if you have financial restraints then sometimes you need to make tough choices. Winning is your only goal.
And why pay MIguel 18 million to play a weak 1b? As a 3b he's worth it (if he was even just a little bit better at it), but what I am saying is you don't find many - if any - 3b that can hit like that. His only defensive weapon is his arm. You knew he had no range when you resigned him.
I am very curious as to why Inge wasn't moved to SS - he played it his entire career before he went pro. he clearly has the range and arm. that would have prevented Everette and made up for Miguel's lack of range at 3rd - and allowed you to sign a 1b that can hit.
Texieara would have made way more sense. switch hitter, decent avg, above avg power, great D. You knew he was becoming a FA and that we haven't had a good hitting 1b since when??? What decade was that in?
Replace all the bad re-signing and you could have easily afforded him.
Anyway, Miguels a future hall of famer hitter - mark my words, so I will get over that one. :)
Inge is a way better 3b than Miguel, can't believe he hasn't earned a gold glove yet, but how can you pay a 225 hitter 6 million per? Defensive wizards that can't hit can be found all over the minor leagues.
Guillen - what can you say, seemed like a good signing for 12 million at the time - when he played SS.
now he's destined to be a great DH - switch hitter with power and avg...when healthy. but again, how many DH's do we want? How many more are you going to pay 12 million, 14 million and 18 million respectively?
Everette made no sense. Again...defensive wizards that can't hit aren't hard to find.
Lyon was brought it to be a closer - for like 1 - 1.5 million. should have left him there because you knew Rodney would be a FA - making him a closer now makes him unaffordable to us.
Rodney has amazing stuff - nerves aside he's a great setup guy.
NO reason for him to want to come back here - at least not cheap.
Never seen a guy with such dominate stuff not be able to throw his fastball for strikes on a consistent basis, but he is the defination of effectively wild. :)
Laird made sense, he was a good hitter avg wise before he got here - his D was a given as was his game calling...
how many decent hitters did we bring up from minors or trade for that slowly over time forgot how to hit - common denominator - our hitting coach who is a life time 244 hitter!!!
Who makes a guy like that a hitting coach???
I thougth Leyland was OK, but after this past September and October he should be fired.
if his goal after the all star break was to not make the playoffs - all of his moves made sense. I hate saying stupid comments like that, but I think he actually justifies it.
I don't know how much worse of a line up he could have thrown out there for the past 4-6 weeks, if not longer? 1st clinch, then play guys that can't hit.
That last game in particular is the worst managed game I've ever seen. I am not exaggerating - even if I can't spell it or use proper english throughout this entire post. :)
Polanco needs to stay. I dont' know why I even bothered saying that. :)
How in the world do we afford Verlander now? He and Jackson are both arbitration eligible if I am not mistaken.
Now they talk about bringing in a big bat. Last time I checked...they were expensive. and where would we play them?
Huff was a gamble not worth taking. Total waste of at bats, possibly cost us a game or 2.
Washburn was worth a gamble only due to only having to pay like 2 million for a pitcher who had an ERA below 3 for entire season. Not sure if we will regret who we traded for him though. Please let him go!
Rayburn is worth keeping as is Santiago.
As I mentioned keep Lyon if he wants to stay, but he wants to close so I am not optimistic he will stay.
I think that covers my rant - I didn't want to get in all my frustrations with how he called that last game of season.

#21 hope you feel better, perhaps yahoo needs a new writer as your post seems more informed than some of their articles i've read good job

this was dumbaskis way of telling tiger fans to get ready for another losing season!! remenber jurjens??

kevin-long but interesting post.
I get a little impatient with those advocating trading Cabrera. It doesn't make any baseball sense to trade a major offensive threat when we have no one else. Without him we would have been battling for fourth this year.
Bondo, Robertson, Willis and Inge are signed through next year and together they are paid over $38. mill. Kind of restricts the team unless they want to do a scheffield and eat more contracts. Only so much water in the well.
The free agent class for this year is thin when you exempt those with club options. Polanco is probably the best 2B available and will get a big contract. We should keep him for a few years so that we can work Sizemore into the system.
Everett is the best defensive SS available on this year's market. Our best minor league player is Cale Iorg and he still has a way to go to make it to the show. He had a minor league average this year less than Everett.
Rodney makes me anxious in save situations but is no fluke. His ERA is under 4 for save situations and almost 7 for non save circumstances.
Brandon Lyon is not the closer answer and there are few top notched non optioned closers as FA. It would be easier to replace Lyon with a FA than Rodney.
We should try to sign Polanco and Rodney as there is no one else better in the A market or in our system. I like Lyon but there are many middle relievers available as FAs. Everett is valuable as a late inning replacement and we should sign him if we have a better option than Santiago at SS.
Think Lloyd McClendondonothing should have been let go. He is a boil on the Tigers a*s and cannot inspire anyone. We went out and got a top notch pitching coach in Knapp. Why resign a useless guy like McClendon when our hitting fundamentals were so screwed up and that cost us more games than anything. Most sports writers were very surprised he was rehired.
I don't even want to venture into an opinion of our last game.
My rant is also over.

I COMPLETELY agree with the first post. Everett SUCKS. Yeah sure he's had a FEW good plays but overall he's just scooting by. Polanco is amazing and I cannot imagine a Tigers roster without him. Rodney isn't amazing and I don't understand why everyone seems to think so. I didn't really like Lyon but he seems to be proving himself more recently. I vote keep Polanco and Lyon :)