One Hell of a Christmas dvd I missed this yesterday when Brandon Lyon signed, but the Tigers also inked Scott Williamson to a minor league deal and he’ll get a look this spring.  Williamson has had an interesting past.  He was a ninth round pick by the Reds in 1997, won the Rookie of the Year and was selected to the All Star Game as a setup man/part time closer in 1999, then the Reds tried to convert him to a starter in 2000 with mixed success.  In 2001 he was hurt and then in 2002 and 2003, he bounced back and had solid campaigns.  Midway through the 2003 season, he was dealt to the Red Sox for Phil Dumatrait and Tyler Pelland and made the postseason roster where he pitched in eight games including all three of the Red Sox wins in the 2003 ALCS against the Yankees.

From there, he bounced around and spent some time in the majors with the Cubs, Padres and Orioles as well their minor league affiliates.  Then in 2008, he spent the whole season in the minors, pitching for both the Mariners and Braves system without much success.

Now he’s a Tiger.  His last really good year was 2002 but this guy was Joel Zumaya before Zumaya when he came up with the Reds back in the late 1990s.  He’ll be just 33 years old in February despite the fact that it feels like he’s been around for ever (I’ve had five jobs between then and now and that’s just if you count my time as an employee).  He touched the low 90s in a throwing session that caught the Tigers attention so we’ll see what he can do and it never hurts to throw another possibility into the mix.

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