The Winter Meetings – Tuesday Morning Recap

The MLB winter meetings are under way in Indianapolis, and the Detroit Tigers made a little noise yesterday in the opening salvo. Shortstop Adam Everett will return to the left side of the Tigers infield, signing a one year $1.55 Million deal. This should put to bed the recent speculation of Bobby Crosby coming to Detroit. Everett is cheap, reliable and a veteran – three things Dave Dombrowski wanted at the position.

In other moves the Tigers traded reliever Clay Rapada  to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later or cash. Rapada was out of options and by all accounts was about to be cut from the 40 man roster, so there shouldn’t be much surprise here.

As the Tigers said goodbye to one lefty reliever in Rapada they added another by signing free agent hurler Brad Thomas to a one year contract. Thomas had 44 saves and a 2.86 ERA over the past two seasons, which is good news. The bad news, or at least the questionable part, is that those numbers came not in a big league uniform but for Hanwha of the Korean Baseball Organization. Thomas hasn’t tossed in the bigs since 2004, so it’s difficult to accurately predict his impact against major league hitters. DD thinks he has the goods to compete, we’ll see.

In moves that almost were, a proposed three team deal involving the Tigers, Yankees and Diamondbacks was popular gossip. According to multiple reports the Tigers would have sent Edwin Jackson to the Diamondbacks, Curtis Granderson to the Yankees, and would have received highly touted center field prospect Austin Jackson from the bombers and young fireballer Max Scherzer from Arizona. It’s hard to tell how close this deal was to fruition, or which team pulled the plug, but for now at least it seems to be a dead issue.

While Steady Eddie Jackson remains a Tiger for now numerous beat writers have been tweeting and reporting that his departure appears “imminent” and “beyond probable”. Again, we’ll see.

Overall the Tigers were the most active team yesterday, although the star power was a bit lacking. Get used to it. Additions will likely be young, cheap, MLB ready talent and subtractions appear  to be prime, high value, medium contract players (I.E. Jackson, Granderson).

In more news, both Brandon Lyon and Fernando Rodney have declined the Tigers offer of arbitration according to reports. This likely signals the end of the road for both in the old english D, although if I had to handicap it I would say the possibility of Lyon returning on a one or two year deal seems more the more likely of the two, however unlikely that is. Don’t worry, you’re supposed to be confused, it’s what the winter meetings are all about.

In former Tigers news, Pudge Rodriguez just ain’t ready to hang ‘em up. Ivan signed a two year, $6 Million deal with the Washington Nationals last night. I’m not sure what to say about that. Part of me finds it said that he has become that hanger on who will suit up anywhere there is a paycheck, even for the lowly Nats. On the other hand, he lvoes the game and wants to keep doing what he loves, which is hard to ignore. I wish him well regardless of the outcome.

Check back later for updates from todays session.

Follow me on Twitter

Find me on Facebook

Tags: Adam Everett, Austin Jackson, Brad Thomas, Brandon Lyon, Clay Rapada, Curtis Granderson Rumors, Dave Dombrowski, Detroit Tigers, Edwin Jackson Rumors, Fernando Rodney, Max Scherzer, MLB Winter Meetings, Winter Meetings