Why have the Detroit Tigers suddenly become the suggested dumping ground for Red Sox cast-offs?  First, it was Jason Varitek.  Then, Julio Lugo.  Now, Ken Rosenthal lists Detroit as one of four possible trade partners if Boston signs Mark Teixeira and no longer has a need for Mike Lowell.

The Dodgers, who could lose Casey Blake in free agency; the White Sox, who currently project the unproven Josh Fields at third base; the Tigers, who could move Brandon Inge back to catcher; and the Brewers, who would need to trade third baseman Bill Hall.

Apparently, I should've added a third option to this week's poll question.

I can see why a national observer such as Rosenthal would look from afar at the Tigers' roster and see Lowell as fitting there.  But someone closer to the situation would see that Detroit has no interest in putting Inge back at catcher.

Otherwise, that's exactly where he would be penciled in, and we wouldn't be talking about Varitek and Gerald Laird, or journeyman like Josh Bard, Gregg Zaun, or Mike Rabelo.  (Or freaking out over James Skelton being left off the 40-man roster.  But hey, all this stuff certainly keeps the blog current.) 

Lowell has $24 million owed to him over the final two years of his contract.  Given what we've heard about the Tigers keeping their payroll in check next season, does that sound like salary they'd want to take on?

And how about Lowell's increasingly creaky health?  He was limited to 113 games last season, battling thumb, oblique, and hip flexor injuries, while posting his lowest average and power numbers in three years.  That hip, by the way, required off-season surgery.

Lowell will turn 35 before Spring Training next year, and that might not be as old in baseball terms as it used to, but his injury history seems to make him an "old" 35.