• #yankees sign marcus thames, si.com has learned. (via @SI_JonHeyman) #
• Happy 51st Birthday, Steve Dillard. http://bit.ly/c4d8j9 #
• #Tigers on the tube in 2010: 156 games on FOX Sports Detroit, one on FSD Plus and 4 selected for the FOX Saturday Baseball Game of the Week. #
• Five years ago today Magglio Ordonez signed w/ the #Tigers for 5 years/$75 mill + 2 option years that could make it $105 million over 7 yrs. #
• Adios, football. In 11 days, hello, Spring Training. #Tigers #mlb #springtraining #

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• Happy 33rd Birthday, Dave Borkowski http://bit.ly/aeItuU #Tigers #

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• Happy 55th Birthday, Mike Heath. http://bit.ly/bhdAtj #
• Why does every move the #Twins make give me a knot in my stomach? #

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• 20 years ago Steve Kemp's homer helped the St. Pete Pelicans rout the W. Palm Beach Tropics 12-4 for the Sr. Pro Baseball Association title. #
• There's no "I" in team? “I have one goal and that’s to make it to the Hall of Fame,” Verlander said. How about a World Series first. #Tigers #
• Happy Birthday, Stan Papi (59) http://bit.ly/aDQjze Rusty Kuntz (55) http://bit.ly/boicde and Chris Bando (54) http://bit.ly/9OBVwu #Tigers #

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Who needs a groundhog? Two weeks until pitchers and catchers arrive in Lakeland for Spring Training.

1. I never doubted for a minute that the Tigers would sign Justin Verlander to a long-term contact, did you? Given the questionable extensions of recent years — Dontrelle Willis and Nate Robertson to name two — the Tigers were due for a wise contractual decision.

2. Last year at the trading deadline I thought the Tigers might make a move for the Mariners’ Russell Branyan. Instead they went after Aubrey Huff. Bygones. Today, Branyan is still looking for work. Should the Tigers be interested? Not at the three years, $20 million he had in mind, according to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. ESPN Rumor Central spells out the risks of Branyan for any team:
   

   Branyan hit 22 homers and posted a .956 OPS before the All-Star break last season, but his OPS dipped to .688 after the break and he was forced to shut it down in late August with a herniated disc in his back.

   So, the question then is, “Is Branyan essentially Carlos Guillen?” Probably.

3. Happy Birthday today to: Stan Papi (59), Rusty Kuntz (55), Chris Bando (54) and the late Joe Sparma. If you want to hear an interview I did with Rusty Kuntz, you can find it here.
   

• And last birthday of the day, Wayne Comer (66) http://bit.ly/d8WX4u #Tigers #
• Birthdays! Fred Lynn (58) http://bit.ly/9tR5tm Joe Coleman (63) http://bit.ly/allgts Dick Tracewski (75) http://bit.ly/alHjwr #Tigers (more) #
• Yesterday we missed Adam Everett's 33rd Birthday. http://bit.ly/d63A8Z #Tigers #

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• Happy Birthday, Ted Power (55) http://bit.ly/dnEqI5 and to the late Hank Aguirre http://bit.ly/9CXTJi #Tigers #

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• Happy 56th Birthday, Dave Stegman. http://bit.ly/98qNkS #Tigers #

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Here are a couple of random items to round out the week:

1. The Detroit News‘ Lynn Henning hosted an online chat this afternoon and I was able to sneak in a question:

   Me: Lynn, recent injuries notwithstanding, how did Jeff Larish’s star plummet so dramatically? He was viewed as a home-grown power bat until last year. Does he have a future in Detroit?

   Henning: Ah, the Larish mystery. That one’s got everyone puzzled. A year ago, he was a hot ticket. The Mariners wanted him in that Putz deal and the Tigers thought Larish and Joyce were too much to give up. He just fell off a cliff. But it was a cliff some scouts saw coming.

2. Twenty-two years ago today Kirk Gibson left the Tigers and signed a three-year contract worth $4.5 million with the Dodgers. Even though he’d return to Detroit at the end of his career, that day still stings.

Have a great weekend.