I thought I would give us a nice little side bar to work up what rumors we are hearing. Let's try keeping to the real rumors not the things we are thinking up with our friends at work or the things we come up with while watching the Lions, Wings, or Pistons with our buddies. I'll get us started in the extended...

To get us started I have been seeing a bit more to the Pudge to the Mets for some type of package highlighted by Kaz Matsui. While I don't place a whole lot of stock into this one. It does sound intriguing. I think the only reason I say this is who do we have catch? If we move Inge back behind the plate, I figure we can expect a drop off in his production. Additionally, where we would put Matsui to work? I don't like Matsui at 2B. he was pretty bad there for the Mets. He is a little weak at SS too. He is awefully expensive for a backup too. If we are going to do this, I hope we jump quick though, so we can pursue a catcher like Molina or Hernandez. I've seen this rumor off one of the Minneapolis Star Tribune as well as Henning making mention of it about a week or so ago. It is looking like pure specualtion at this point.

I've seen in the ESPN rumors that we are interested in Bobby Howry too. I have to hope we won't go anywhere near his 3 yr-$10.5 mill demands. I'd rather see us try for Kyle Farnsworth-who we are rumored to have some level of interest in.

Also on the close front, we've probably all seen the rumors of interest in Billy Wagner. There has been talk that he will come in and visit soon with the team. I feel like he might use the Tigers to try to force his price tag up rather than give us serious consideration.

Steve Phillips on ESPN predicts we will pick up Jaques Jones this off-season in free agency. He wouldn't be a bad pick up, but I'd rather see us try for someone more substantial via trade.

The last rumor I've seen has been that we might involve ourselves in the Javier Vasquez trade. He put in his formal request for a trade and everyone figure we might have interest since we are being given little chance at A.J. Burnett.

Anyway, add what you're seeing and we'll see if we might not get a jump on anything that does happen Update [2005-11-17 8:56:18 by chrvoel]:As of this morning, the Tigers website says we have had comment with the agents for Kyle Farnsworth, Trevor Hoffman, and Tom Gordon. Mark posted on the front about us bringing BJ Ryan by for a visit. I'd hope that we don't pursue either Gordon or Hoffman given the age issue and how well they would do on the durablity factor. I still maintain I'd prefer a return of Kyle Farnsworth. Update [2005-11-21 8:33:15 by chrvoel]: Ahh, nothing like the smell of rumors in the morning. Mlive's weblog has all sorts of good stuff from over the weekend. they are reporting that the Monroe to the Yankees for Pavano may or not happen, depending how much you read. The first report says they might send Monroe for Pavano and possibly Chacon (great deal, wehere do we sign up?) with the Yanks spinning Monroe to the White Sox for Aaron Rowand. The next piece says the Yanks have no interest in Monroe and Logan. The more interesting infor comes from a piece that says the Tigers are one of only a couple of teams that would be willing to pursue a package deal from the Marlins over Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell as the Marlins desperately try to shed payroll.