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The Tigers Are Keeping Sean Casey

By FLATigersFan

With news of Jamie Walker leaving the Tigers to sign with the Baltimore Orioles behind us, the Tigers have decided to re-sign 1B Sean Casey to a 1 year deal worth a reported $4 million.

Casey is definitely a happy man:

"I'm thrilled to be back with Detroit," Casey said via teleconference from his home in Pittsburgh. "My experience there was just first class all the way. I felt like it was my No. 1 choice to come back there, and I'm thrilled that they wanted to bring me back."

Based on earlier rankings Casey was an A free agent, meaning if they would have offered him arbitration and he signed with another team the Tigers would have received a first round pick. The chances of that scenario unfolding seemed slim, though.

So the question is now what the future of Chris Shelton holds. Sean Casey will more than likely be the Tigers starting first baseman based on what we saw post-trade deadline last season, so Chris Shelton could either be stuck on the bench, in the minors, or could be involved in some type of trade. It will be interesting to see what becomes of Chris Shelton.

Finally here are what other Tigers sites are saying:

Brian at Tigerblog

In addition, and I hate to get all mushy, but even though I was against the Tigers trading for Casey during the season, he's such a likable guy that he's grown on me. And for $4 million, you get a decent stick for a pretty good price.

Billfer of the Detroit Tigers Weblog
At least it is short, but the fact the Tigers are content with Casey as the first sacker/left handed bat they need is disappointing.

Kurt of Mack Avenue Tigers
My personal feeling is this isn't the greatest thing in the world, but I don't exactly think it's that big a problem either. I thought Casey did a nice job while in Detroit. He almost carried the team for large swaths of his three months or so, including in the World Series.

Lee of Tiger Tales
The good news is that it's only a one year deal so if he does poorly again next year, they won't get stuck with him. Plus, it's a relatively inexpensive contract so if Shelton tears it up at Toledo, it won't be difficult for the Tigers to bring up Shelton and put Casey on the bench.

Mixed reaction, sorta, and I'm exactly the same. I like Casey as a player and thought that he did reasonably well as a Tiger. On the other hand though, as Billfer said, I'm disappointed that the Tigers do not think that they can do a little better in terms of a left handed bat. If he hits like he did in the WS I think that I'll be fine with this move, however.

I'd love to see what Shelton can do and it's good to keep the competition there at 1B. I would hate to see Shelton never get a consistent shot, or perhaps leave Detroit and bust out elsewhere. You never know.

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