becuase that’ll give a hint as to if we’re still looking for more infield help or not. With Ramon back, I’d like to see us find an infielder primarily at 3B.

Danny Worth’s Very Strong Jaw just lost his spot on the bench

Depending on the amount of money, I really can’t complain about this. I just hope Ramon gets 60% of the starts in a Santiago/Raburn platoon if DD doesn’t get someone else to play 2nd.

No to Kelly Johnson
No to another starting pitcher

Beg Mr. I for another 14 million. See if you can trade everyone short of Turner for Wright.
Start winner of Below/Turner/Whoever spring training duel.
Maybe sign cheap one year bullpen piece

Be done. Play baseball.

Just not full time.

At 32 and 33 Santiago will likely decline from poor offensive and mediocre defensive numbers. On the other hand he also likely won’t play much.

If Illitch wants to spend an extra $3 million for a defensive replacement out of loyalty or because Santiago is relatively low risk I guess I don’t care much though.

if we sign A-ram…..

I’m okay with this.

Ramon has shown over the years that he’s a very valuable utility role-player. $2M is about par for the course for a guy with his skill set and MLB experience. What I don’t like is the expectation that he’ll be a platooner w/ Raburn at 2B. He’s got a decent bat, and a decent glove — any team would love to have a bench guy like him. He’s earned his $2M a year IMHO, and he performs his role without complaint.

Still, we need to find some regulars to fill 2B and 3B. Platooning 2 out of the 4 infield positions is just not acceptable.

but, whatever. I’m sure there’s more to come so hopefully DD can find a way to get some of the pieces we need.

but starting the season with Santiago and/ or Raburn as our second baseman, OR returning with Inge/ Kelly at third base would be just negligent. The Tigers desperately need to upgrade the top of the batting order, and there are two spots where they can pull that off, barring another move in the outfield.

Santiago doesn’t get on base enough to bat first or second. Raburn is as bad, if not worse than any second baseman in the league defensively, and is no lock to hit like he did in the second half of 2011.

We have our utility guy back. Keep looking for the ugrade. Prado, Maicer, etc.

He’s in the fold
He had a bad first half last year, but I think it was a lot to do with his injury. Before and after that ding…he can hit!
I know, I know…He can’t take a walk or field…big deal.

Not that I’m first on the Santiago bandwagon, but I think he does a good job, and I think the Tigers got a good deal on him. I thought he’d sign a 2yr 6-6.5M deal

Danny Worth is the exact same player as Ramon and would be 1.5Mil less per year. There is no added benefit to this signing.

I have nothing against Ramon, but that extra 1.5 mil could be better spent somewhere else.

If we were really planning on getting a different 2B option, I think we would have let Santi walk, saved the 2M/yr, and handed the IF-UT job to Danny Worth. Worth has a good, perhaps better glove and the difference in offense over the course of 200 AB’s probably isn’t worth the extra 1.5M that Santi will earn.

However, the rash of middling 2B signings has left the market barren and DD may see the price to trade is higher than he feels comfortable with. And really, Santi / Raburn isn’t the end of the world…it’s not like Macier Izturis over that tandem is going to be much of a difference maker.

Having Worth under control and signing Santiago makes me feel like we’re punting 2B. And that’s actually fine because there’s nothing available that makes me regret it too much. With the crappy state of affairs on the 3B market, we may decide to punt that one as well.

DD’s strategy may actually be to shore up the OF and SP depth through free agent signings. (Adding Cespedes and somebody like Oswalt / Buehrle would certainly do that). That leaves us with two positions of strength to deal from if our 2B and 3B situations still blow at the deadline. Boesch, Jackson, Turner, Crosby, Smyly, and maybe Oliver would all become quite valuable and perhaps surplus trade chips).