Chris Shelton blurb
Shell game on Shelton: Could Chris Shelton's fall from power hitter in April to Triple-A Toledo in July be followed by a move to the trading block? Possibly, but not quite yet.
Three teams have inquired about Shelton since the Tigers contingent arrived here on Sunday night, Dombrowski said. None of those offers were very appealing.
"Normally when they inquire about him," Dombrowski said, "they're thinking that they're just going to get him for very little, because they think that it's a good time to try to get him. And we like him. I'm not saying we wouldn't necessarily trade him or anybody else. But we're not just going to be in a spot where somebody comes by and gets him for an A-ball fringe guy. We like Chris Shelton."
The Orioles are believed to be interested in him in their search for a right-handed power hitter. Meanwhile, Baltimore vice president of baseball operations Jim Duquette told reporters on Monday that he targeted talks toward teams in need of pitching, though most of the O's talks involved righty swingman Rodrigo Lopez.
http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/ml ... p&c_id=det
Some stuff on Monroe
There's some buzz circulating that the Tigers might be willing to move outfielder Craig Monroe, who hit .255 with 28 homers in 147 games. The Tigers upgraded their offense recently with the addition of Gary Sheffield, and they need left-handed relief help with the departure of Jamie Walker through free agency.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove0 ... id=2685697
• With J.D. Drew having departed, the Dodgers continue their search for another hitter. As talks drag with Boston for Ramirez, one AL source said that Los Angeles has approached Detroit multiple times about Craig Monroe. The Tigers might be willing to move Monroe, which would leave them with an outfield of Marcus Thames, Curtis Granderson and Magglio Ordonez, with Gary Sheffield as the DH.
http://www.sportsline.com/columns/weblo ... l_pennings
Talks involving adding a LH RP
Going young, going left: The Tigers continue to keep their options open to bringing in a left-handed reliever, be it by trade or free agency. But at this point, the latter is looking less and less likely.
After watching the market escalate on situational relievers, the Tigers are reluctant to go into the territory of long-term deals.
"I know the market right now has really been a wild market," Dombrowski said, "and the one thing I don't want to do is to get somebody that fits that description and put us in a spot where we sign a contract that we're not happy with in a year. I really would rather have a short-term contract if it came down to that, or a young guy, unless the right guy you could sign. But I don't know who that guy is right now."
That leaves the options of either taking a chance on a lower-level free agent or pursuing a trade. That's one area where the Tigers have made proposals, Dombrowski said. So have other teams, of course, leaving Detroit in the position of pursuing younger, unproven lefties as well as veteran southpaws.
"I think we'd be open either way," Dombrowski said. "We're talking about both, so we really have discussed both types of guys."
The Tigers had brief discussions Monday with officials from the Marlins, who boast a young rookie lefty in 24-year-old Venezuelan Kenyel Pinto, but talks were not believed to be serious. They have also had discussions this offseason with the Rangers, who have a coveted lefty in C.J. Wilson and need starting pitching. However, Texas is expected to make Wilson a starter rather than deal him. The Rangers also have Ron Mahay, whom they retained by picking up his $1 million option for next season.
Unless Detroit trades an incumbent starter, the left-handed Ledezma is expected to open the year in the bullpen. Dombrowski cautioned that the Tigers view Ledezma more as a middle reliever than a specialist. Yet with setup men Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney effective against left-handed hitters, Dombrowski said that a middle-inning lefty could be what they need.
"Really, if we didn't do anything with our bullpen -- with Jones, Zumaya, Rodney, Ledezma, Grilli, and then we've got other guys there that we do like -- we'd be fine with that. It's not that we're not going to try to do something, but if we had to go there, we would be fine."
http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/ml ... p&c_id=det
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