Jason Beck provided us with a pretty general “state of the Tigers” piece and while there’s nothing earth shattering in here, it’s a great summary of what the team is facing as things head into the Winter Meetings. The Tigers have holes at shortstop and catcher and they could use some work both in the rotation and in the pen. I’d say Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman and Armando Galaraga are all locks to make the rotation but after that, it’s a crap shoot. If you follow the money, Nate Robertson and Dontrelle Willis will be in the mix but I doubt Jim Leyland will make the same mistake he made last year in sticking with those guys for too long.
Vance Wilson is going to test the market. At 35 and two season’s out of the league, my guess is he’s going to end up making backup catcher money somewhere, but he’ll probably be a late signee if he holds out for a major league contract. I see the Tigers signing him to a minor league deal if they choose to go in that direction but Wilson has a ton to prove.
John Perrotto over at Baseball Prospectus runs down what he things teams will end up doing in the offseason. His prognosis for the Tigers isn’t all that earth shattering and the only name he mentions is Freddy Garcia.