In this morning's Detroit News, Lynn Henning reported that the Detroit Tigers and Brandon Lyon have "mutual interest" in each other, and the two sides should discuss a contract offer within the next day or two. With a closer's job to offer, the Tigers would appear to be the front-runner for his services (though the St. Louis Cardinals also have such an opening).
The question is, which team made the two-year, $9 million offer that Lyon's agent claimed to have received, according to Ken Rosenthal? It wasn't the Cardinals, who Rosenthal said only offered a one-year deal. And Jon Paul Morosi reported that it wasn't the Tigers, either. That led me to assume that the offer came from the Minnesota Twins, the other team reportedly interested in Lyon.
Yet the Star-Tribune's LaVelle E. Neal says he was told the Twins made no such offer:
The Twins still would like to improve at third and in the bullpen but I get the sense that the Twins are closer to getting relief help. They are interested in Brandon Lyon but I was told last week they are not one of the teams to have made this offer. If you are Brandon Lyon, do you go to the Twins to set up or look to hook up with Detroit or St. Louis as a closer?
So who put that deal on the table? The Red Sox? (Haven't they already signed enough pitchers?) The Brewers? Or was Lyon's agent not being completely truthful? An agent wouldn't resort to such chicanery to boost the market for his client, would he?
Of course, if the Tigers just sign Lyon this week, such questions won't even matter...