Tigers Bring Back Rogers for Another Year

When Kenny Rogers fired agent Scott Boras, most people figured it was because Boras was shopping his client around the majors when all he really wanted to do was re-sign with the Tigers. Well, most people were correct: the Tigers announced that Rogers signed a one-year deal today. The Tigers had a teleconference announcing the deal, during which Bilfer from the Detroit Tigers Weblog took notes:

Kenny's negotiation process: There was never a lot of change in his position. He wanted to make sure that he represented what was done best for himself and his family. The change in representation had more to do with Rogers intent to stay in Detroit than anything to do with Boras. He was trying to simplify the process so he could communicate directly with the team. If Rogers had decided to become a free agent in the true sense, Boras would still be his agent.

Rogers also revealed there are performance incentives in the contract, although the exact terms of the deal are still unknown. If I had to guess, I'd wager he's making somewhere close to $8 million and $10 million next year, but we'll have to wait to get the official word later.

It wasn't the only deal the Tigers announced: they also inked reliever Francisco Cruceta to a minor league deal. Cruceta, who spent last year at Triple-A in the Rangers' organization, served a 50-game suspension after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs last season.

To make room on the 40-man roster, the Tigers designated a couple of guys with big-league experience for assignment: if you're favorite team wants Chris Shelton and Timo Perez on the cheap, nows the time to give them a ring. Perez was actually quite valuable down the stretch this past season, hitting .389/.427/.533 in 90 at-bats, so he might end up being traded instead of simply released.