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BaseCast: Winter Wonderland

By Andrew Johnson 2/05/2010 6:00 PM ET

Justin Verlander / Adrian GonzalezIt's a baseball podcast. The math is easy, right? BaseCast.

Spring training is just around the corner, but there are still plenty of loose ends to tie up.

On this edition, FanHouse's Ed Price joins me to discuss Justin Verlander's new extension, Joe Mauer's pursuit of his own, the growing signs that the Padres will trade Adrian Gonzalez and much more.

Listen in below.
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Report: Verlander Agrees to $80M Extension With Tigers

By Pat Lackey 2/03/2010 8:57 PM ET

Justin VerlanderThe Tigers and Justin Verlander have agreed to a five-year, $80 million extension, a source told the Associated Press. Though not officially announced, the deal is expected to be completed before the end of the week. The deal both avoids arbitration and keeps Verlander in Detroit three years into his free agency.

While the extension was being negotiated, it was expected that Verlander would use Felix Hernandez's five-year, $78 million contract as a template for what he wanted from Detroit. In the end, the Tigers went beyond the deal Seattle gave to Hernandez by $2 million to lock their ace up long-term.
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Johnny Damon Would Love to Be a Tiger

By Andrew Johnson 2/02/2010 12:30 AM ET

Johnny DamonThe final true high-profile free agent left on the market would love to play for the Detroit Tigers, according to his agent.

If that sounds like desperation from left fielder Johnny Damon (via his representative Scott Boras), that's because it probably is. It's February now, after all. Pitchers and catchers from Damon's former team -- the Yankees -- will report to spring training in Tampa in a little more than two weeks.

It's especially cold out there for a 36-year-old outfielder, so it's no surprise that Boras would go to bat for his client with a potential suitor even if it smacks ever so slightly of begging.
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Cabrera in Alcohol Abuse Treatment

By Josh Alper 1/21/2010 2:00 PM ET

When Miguel Cabrera found himself in a police station early on an October Saturday, it put an ugly face on the ugly collapse that cost the Tigers the AL Central. Cabrera had been out drinking on Friday night and returned home to a fight with his wife that led to a 911 call and, ultimately, Cabrera getting picked up at police station by Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski.

Cabrera reportedly had a .26 blood alcohol content on that fateful day, which wasn't his first liquor-fueled incident last season, and his behavior didn't win him much love from Tigers fans who thought he acted irresponsibly with so much on the line for the team. Cabrera apparently agreed with that sentiment, because he has spent the last three months in alcohol abuse treatment in Miami.
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Arbitration Intrigue Goes Past Lincecum

By Andrew Johnson 1/20/2010 4:21 PM ET

Joe Blanton / Wandy RodriguezThe figures are in. The haggling has begun. And you can rest assured it's going to get crazy.

Of the 128 players that filed for salary arbitration last week, 44 exchanged figures with their respective clubs Tuesday and 35 remain without a contract for 2010, raising the specter of a hearing next month (Feb. 1-21).

There's just one player that figures to capture everyone's imagination -- two-time Cy Young Award-winner Tim Lincecum, who is in line for a record award -- but plenty of cases are worth watching.

Back to Lincecum for a second.
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With Valverde, Tigers' Relief Envy of AL

By Frankie Piliere 1/15/2010 3:15 PM ET

Jose ValverdeAfter dealing away star players like Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson, it would be easy to look at the areas where Detroit will be weaker in 2010. But, aside from just strengthening their crop of young players, the Tigers have the makings of a superb relief corps heading into this spring.

The Tigers already had an impressive group of arms in their bullpen before their most recent signing, but with that signing -- closer Jose Valverde -- they kept themselves from having an unproven commodity closing out ballgames. When you have a club in a transitional phase, few things are as important as being able to close out games with consistency.
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Jose Valverde Signs With Detroit

By Matt Snyder 1/14/2010 5:11 PM ET

Jose Valverde The Detroit Tigers and free-agent closer Jose Valverde have agreed to terms on a contract, FanHouse's Ed Price has confirmed. Yahoo! Sports is reporting the deal is for two years and worth $14 million, with a club option for a third year.

Valverde, 30, has compiled 116 saves with a 2.84 ERA over the course of the past three seasons as a full-time closer. He only had 25 saves last season, but missed a decent chunk of the season with injury issues. The 2.33 ERA he sported was the second-best mark of his career.
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Winter Meetings Wrap: AL Central

By Matt Snyder 12/10/2009 2:30 PM ET

INDIANAPOLIS -- Not sure if you heard, but there was a trade involving an AL Central team at the annual Winter Meetings. The Tigers teamed up with the Yankees and Diamondbacks to form a three-team, seven-player blockbuster trade. It was easily the biggest news of the meetings and the rest of the division was relatively quiet.

The Royals released Mike Jacobs, closing the chapter on the embarrassing trade they made for him last winter (sending the Marlins their present closer, Leo Nunez) and were tied to free-agent catcher Jason Kendall (though nothing has come through just yet). Though manager Manny Acta said the Indians are open to bringing in a first baseman, it's been reported they don't have any money to spend. The White Sox were tied to several players, but nothing ever came of that, aside from extending the contract of someone they already controlled (Mark Teahen). The Twins sent Boof Bonser to the Red Sox for a player to be named and Carl Pavano accepted arbitration.
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Odds and Ends From Wednesday in Indy

By Matt Snyder 12/09/2009 10:30 PM ET

INDIANAPOLIS -- Wednesday afternoon at the annual Winter Meetings, the eight managers who had not yet given an interview session took the podium to field questions for a half-hour from in-house media. Eighteen others had already been there on the previous two days -- we posted about these sessions for both Monday and Tuesday -- and Joe Girardi, Joe Torre, Ron Gardenhire and Charlie Manuel were not present.

• Even if the Rockies let Jason Marquis walk -- which they probably will, though it's been reported they are open to bringing him back -- they are incredibly wealthy with starting pitching. Manager Jim Tracy discussed a strong five-man rotation of Ubaldo Jimenez, Jeff Francis, Aaron Cook, Jorge de la Rosa and Jason Hammel, but also mentioned the options they have in Esmil Rogers, Jhoulys Chacin, Samuel Deduno and Greg Smith. Smith in particular seemed to excite Tracy, in terms of how he'll come back healthy in 2010. Remember, the 24-year-old left-hander had a 4.16 ERA in 190 1/3 innings for Oakland in 2008. Simply put, there is absolutely no need to spend the money they'll have to in order to retain Marquis.
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Tigers' Biggest Hole Is Atop the Order

By Matt Snyder 12/09/2009 8:30 PM ET

INDIANAPOLIS -- The three-team trade that sent Curtis Granderson to the Yankees changes the makeup of the Tigers in several ways. They bolstered their bullpen, swapped out a pitcher in the starting rotation, lose Granderson's power and defense and lose a great clubhouse guy.

Still, in listening to Jim Leyland address the media Wednesday, it was apparent how he thinks this move most affects the face of the Detroit Tigers: the leadoff spot in the batting order.

Curtis Granderson led off 130 times last season. Placido Polanco -- who normally batted second -- is also gone. The Tigers don't have any prototypical leadoff hitters left. Ryan Raburn and his .359 on-base percentage would seem to make some sense, but Leyland doesn't think "that way."
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