Tuesday open thread: Which unexpected former Tiger do you keep tabs on?

“Old friend alert” is a popular phrase that comes up on Twitter every time a former player for a team does something worthy of note. We bring it up when former Tigers retire, or in instances like earlier this month when old friend Alex Avila and Ian Kinsler both took a turn as pitchers for their respective teams.

There are always the obvious choices for former players we keep up with: Justin Verlander, whose noted love of astrophysics and distaste of business cards was in the news lately; or Max Scherzer, who consistently reminds us of what an absolute maniac he is, pitching with a black eye (in addition to his blue and brown ones) and a broken nose.

But there are other guys that we can’t help but love and want to keep tabs on long after they leave the team. For me, it’s Alex Avila. For others it might be a constant wonder of whether or not Austin Jackson is going to sign somewhere, or how Curtis Granderson is doing in Miami.

So which former Tiger do you like to keep an eye on, even now that they’re not on the team anymore?