Over the summer, work prevented me from posting as much as I’d like.  Now that I have the time, there’s been little to talk about.  The winter meetings are a distant past and the Tigers have been pretty quiet when it comes to the free agent market.  While the Yankees have made their splash, the biggest signing the Tigers have made so far has been Adam Everett.

Oh wait, one piece of news is the Tigers bloated salary last year cost the team $1.3 million via the luxury tax.  The Angels and Red Sox have also crossed the threshold in years past and unless I’m missing a team, the Tigers are now the fourth team to make a payment.  Of course the fourth team are the Yankees, who have been perennial donors to the luxury tax pot.

It looks like the Washington Nationals are in the same boat that the Tigers were back in 2005.  The Tigers made several offers to high profile players like Carl Pavano and Steve Finley only to have player after player decline their offers for greener pastures.  Now it’s the Nationals, who made a huge offer to Mark Teixeira, who are being snubbed.  According to this story, the Nationals offered a slightly larger amount then the Yankees did and were willing to go even higher, but the idea of playing for an instant contender must have pushed Teixeira to the Bronx.

It seems like between my work for Tigers Corner 2009 and the Hardball Times Annual Season Preview 2009, I’ve beat the 2008 season to death.  Still, Jason Beck does a nice job in this piece of going through the carnage of what was the 2008 Tigers season.

The MLB Network kicks off on Thursday.  Unfortunately, because I’m too cheap to pay for digital cable, I won’t get the station.  I did get a nice new toy for Christmas though so I’m happy despite the fact I won’t get to see Don Larsen’s perfect game on New Years Day.

Permalink | Posted in 2009 Tigers