Vladimir In Detroit?

The longer Vladimir Guerrero sits in free agency the fewer options he has, or does he? Yes, the longer he sits in free agency fewer teams would be willing to pay him what he wants or have a need for him. At the same time thou other teams could change their thinking and give the slugger a chance. According to Joe Sheehan of SI.com one possible team could be the Detroit Tigers.

There simply aren’t very many teams looking for a full-time DH, and the ones who might be open to a platoon option — the A’s, the Mariners, the Orioles — can’t be excited about paying star money for a 250-at-bat player. As his price drops, however, the Tigers become an increasingly attractive option.

Seeing that caught me off guard, I know the Tigers have been trying to shed payroll the past couple seasons so adding Vlad at $7 or $8 million just didn’t make sense.

Sheehan brings up some good points thou, mainly which the Tigers are going with an unfavorable catcher / designated hitter combination of Victor Martinez and Alex Avila. Basically, whichever one isn’t catching that day would be their DH and he wonders if Avila is even ready for either role.

The idea that Alex Avila will catch and Victor Martinez will DH has always been a bad one. Avila has yet to hit above Double-A, with no Triple-A experience and a .237/.327/.383 line in the majors and strikeouts in 25 percent of his ABs without the power to match.

He even suggests that bringing in Vladimir would help the team bring along the young catcher slowly and used more as his production increases, “Guerrero can be part of a solution that allows Martinez to be used properly, Avila to be brought along as his performance warrants.”

It’s not a perfect fit — the Tigers could really use a lefthanded bat instead — but it would help their depth, provide day-to-day flexibility and give Guerrero the best chance he’ll have at returning to the posteason.

I’d agree that Vladimir wouldn’t be a perfect fit in Detroit, do they really need another aging veteran? No, they don’t but he could be beneficial as an extra veteran body while the youngsters develop. Although there is one huge thing he can provide and that’s power supply to a team that sorely needs it.

The question in the end is the same that we’ve been asking about every other team. Is Detroit willing to spend $7-8 million for a guy who can hit homers, can’t play defense and tailed off at the end of 2010?

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Tags: Detroit Tigers, MLB, Texas Rangers, Vladimir Guerrero