Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Tigers Searching for Outfielder

There is not much activity from the Tigers at the winter meetings so far, but there have been a few rumors:

Jon Morosi says that the Tigers are one of several teams interested in Josh Willingham of the Nationals.  The 31-year-old Willingham is a right-handed batter with a .841 OPS, but is not a strong defender.  The cost, in terms of players, is reportedly high. 

According to Jerry Crasnick, The Mets, Tigers and other teams have looked into to Fred Lewis, a left-handed batting outfielder recently non-tendered by the Giants.  The soon to be thirty-year-old Lewis has a lifetime OPS of .766 and can play all three outfield positions.  I assume the Tigers see him as a fourth outfielder rather than a starter.

Jayson Stark reports that the Tigers still have interest in free agent left fielder Carl Crawford but think it's is unlikely that they'll get him:
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.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have reportedly pulled out of the Crawford sweepstakes and are expressing interest in Magglio Ordonez.  I still expect him to sign with the Tigers eventually though.    

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