[Jim] Leyland began the Tigers’ winter caravan by acknowledging that “my tail’s on the line.” For good measure, Leyland observed that general manager David Dombrowski‘s tail is somewhere in the same vicinity.

(snip)

The Tigers have talked quite a bit about how Brad Penny “takes the ball” and gives the team a veteran “horse” in the rotation. But Penny has been around since 2000 and has a total of two 200-inning seasons on his résumé — the same as Rodrigo Lopez. Amid questions about his conditioning and dedication, Penny’s tail is on the line, too.

Crasnick ranks the White Sox next with a B, followed by the Royals (B-), Twins (C) and Indians (D).

Magglio Ordonez’s

On the other hand, it shouldn’t be surprising at all. My sense was that he had a deep sense of loyalty to the Tigers and owner Mike Ilitch, and not only because they paid him handsomely in 2005 when most other clubs were afraid to risk big money on his balky knee. And, by all accounts, Ilitch treated Ordonez with special care during the 2009 season when the slugger’s wife was seriously ill.

In the end, his contract was essentially a hometown discount. And that has got to drive Scott Boras insane.

Is it Jayson Werth or Adam Dunn? No. But signing Martinez to hit behind — or maybe in front of — Miguel Cabrera makes the Tigers’ lineup more formidable — especially when Martinez is in the lineup in place of Alex Avila.

As Jayson Stark writes this morning, the prevailing wisdom is that Dave Dombrowski isn’t done.

So even after making four significant signings, the Tigers clearly aren’t done.

They’re not finished with their bullpen. And they’re still prowling for a big right-handed, corner-outfield bat. They could be players for Jayson Werth. They could bring back Magglio Ordonez. They could have a surprise in store. But they have the dollars to make almost anything possible.

But is that it? It’s certainly impressive the amount of business the Tigers have accomplished. Yet even with all the activity the Tigers have had this month, I still think it will make the Winter Meetings next month even more intriguing — and worth watching.

There has to be a trade of some sort in the offing, right? If they miss out on Werth, do they make a deal for a slugger? Do they go after Hanley Ramirez and shift Jhonny Peralta to second? Purely speculation, of course, but I just can’t see the Tigers going to the Winter Meetings and not be open for some degree of business.

What do you think?

Here’s the Boston Globe’s story on Martinez’s conference call today announcing the deal.

In unrelated news, Happy 63rd Birthday to one of my favorite all-time Tigers, Richie Hebner. Today’s also the birthday of Mike Moore, brilliant with the A’s, dreadful for the Tigers from 1993-95. He’s 51.

Have a great weekend.

• 1957 — The Tigers acquired righthanded pitcher Tom Morgan, lefty Maury “Mickey” McDermott, catcher Charlie Thompson, infielder Billy Martin and outfielders Gus Zernial and Lou “The Nervous Greek” Skizas from the Athletics for righty Duke Maas and John Tsitouris, catcher Frank House, infielder Kent Hadley, outfielders Bill Tuttle and Jim Small and a player to be named
  (infielder Jim McManus).

• 1958 — The Tigers picked up righthander Ray Narleski, lefty Don Mossi and infielder Ossie Alvarez from the Indians for righty Al Cicotte and infielder Billy Martin — one year to the day
  they acquired him.

• 1997 — The Tigers acquired righthander Bryce Florie and cash considerations from the Brewers for righty Rick Greene, lefty Mike Myers and infielder Santiago Perez. Then they picked up righthander Nick Skuse from the Angels for catcher Matt Walbeck and infielder Phil Nevin.

And on Nov. 20, 1985, the Pirates hired White Sox third base coach Jim Leyland to be the club’s 33rd manager in history.

It’s an absolutely brutal contract, with a very low probability of yielding even a zero ROI (meaning they get just what they paid for — never mind coming out ahead).

(snip)

With all of Detroit’s roster issues, the 8th inning was just not the place to spend this money, and no middle reliever merits a three-year contract.

What do you think?

In October, after team officials had already made up their minds about Coke, they could watch the ideal test case pitching in the postseason: Rangers lefty [C.J.] Wilson.

Like Coke, Wilson is a native Californian who made the switch to starting after enjoying success as a reliever in the majors.

As a matter of fact, Tigers scout/pitching guru Dick Egan turned in similar reports on Coke and Wilson.

“Dick Egan, who always pushed us to be interested in C.J. Wilson, always said, ‘I think this guy can start,’ ” Dombrowski recalled. “When we got Phil Coke, he said, ‘I think this guy can start.’

“As we’ve grown familiar with him, he grew into that. His minor-league numbers spoke for themselves. He’s a very durable, strong guy. Even though he’s a little stocky, he’s in good shape. He works hard. They say he can run forever. We think he can handle it. He’s got three good pitches, too.”

Sure sounds like Coke-in-the-rotation is more than a ruse. But another C.J. Wilson? That’s Sparky Anderson talk.

• The Republic‘s Nick Piecoro (who, by the by, has one of the best team blogs out there): A long, hard look at The Big Deal. A snippet:
  

  Before we go any further: I’m not crazy about this deal, either. I’m not sure I hate it as much as some people; I’m just not entirely on board.

• Long-time Valley sports-radio guy Dave Burns: Breaking down the trade with pros and cons.
  

  Pro: You just added starting pitching to your rotation without having to pay a lot for it.

  Con: Of the four guys the D-backs have just added or subtracted, none of them have as high a ceiling as Max Scherzer does. And it ain’t even close.

• D’backs.com/MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert: Analyzing the Jackson Deal:
  

  [Scherzer] still needs to improve his pitch efficiency so that he can pitch deeper in games, needs to further develop his secondary pitches and also needs to show that he can cross the 200-inning barrier.

  The D-backs must have felt that the above were real challenges for him and felt more comfortable with the combination of Edwin Jackson and Kennedy.

  As for Schlereth, the potential is there, but there have always been concerns about his command.

As for yours truly, I got over the Jason Thompson trade. I survived Kirk Gibson‘s departure. And I guess I’ll eventually move past Curtis Granderson in pinstripes.

• So where were you two years ago today? You were probably glued to ESPN or the Web reading all you could about the eight-player deal that brought Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Detroit. Time flies. (And just a year ago today Edgar Renteria spared Tigers fans a second season of his mediocrity by signing with the Giants.)
• I’ll miss Placido Polanco more than I’ll potentially miss Curtis Granderson but I still don’t want the Tigers to deal him – or Edwin Jackson. (For what it’s worth, I own the bobblehead shown here. Guess I’ll have to store it alongside my Pudge bobblehead.)

• On Dec. 4, 1952 the Tigers traded Virgil Trucks, who tossed two no-hitters during the year, along with P Hal White and outfielder Johnny Groth, to the Browns in exchange for second baseman Owen Friend, outfielder Bob Nieman, and outfielder/ catcher J.W. Porter. How could they trade a pitcher good enough to throw a pair of no-no’s? Easily it turns out. Apart from his no-hitters, Trucks won only three other games that year — against 19 defeats. Somehow he kept his ERA below four (3.97).
• On this date in 1976, Aurelio Rodriguez became the first American League third baseman since 1959 to beat out Brooks Robinson for the Gold Glove Award.
• Yesterday you might have seen him on C-SPAN railing on Fed chief Ben Bernanke, but on this date in 1963 you would’ve seen Jim Bunning pack his bags as the Tigers traded him to the Phillies for catcher Gus Triandos, pitcher Jack Hamilton and outfielder Don Demeter.
• About a year late, MLB Network will be broadcasting from the Winter Meetings next week in Indianapolis. (Why they didn’t launch the network at last year’s meetings is still a mystery. No, go ahead and launch on January 1. Nothing else is on TV that day…) Anyway, here’s a preview of the network’s “Hot Stove at the Winter Meetings” program. And be sure to weigh in on the latest Fungo Pulse Check poll in the sidebar –>
• Here’s a question: When are we going to find out which member of the White Sox was in the bar with Cabrera during that dreadful last weekend of the year?
• Speaking of a year too late, I’m glad that Chip Caray will no longer be allowed to butcher baseball games for TBS. However, if you are a glutton for punishment you can relive Game 163 from the Metrodome by purchasing it for $1.99 on iTunes.

We’ll be back with more on the Winter Meetings next week. In the meantime, have a great weekend.

So what, you ask? So, exactly one year later the Tigers sent Martin and pitcher Al Cicotte to the Indians for relievers Ray Narleski and Don Mossi, and shortstop Ossie Alvarez.

Not the most exciting stuff but, hey, at least it’s about two trades that actually materialized.

Fact is, he throws harder than Jones — which can’t hurt — but no one is going to confuse him with Joe Nathan.

Last season wasn’t a pleasant one for the D-backs’ closer, a position he lost to Chad Qualls. Well, that’s not entirely true.

Despite four blown saves in 23 chances in the first half, hitters managed a .243 average against him and his ERA was 2.43. (Compare that to Jones’s 4.95 ERA and .297 opponents’ average in the first half.)

In terms of repertoire, it doesn’t extend far past a fastball and curve. In fact, that’s it. But the curveball is something to behold; no roundhouse breaking pitch, Lyon’s is top-to-bottom — or noon-to-six, as they say. Still, in 2008 he threw the fastball 72 percent of the time — 73 percent with two strikes.

As you might expect, Lyons doesn’t heave bullets across the heart of the plate. Instead, he has a Jones-like corners-nibbling approach. His favorite spots — against righties or lefties — are the outside corners. But against lefties his greatest success comes on the inside corner, up and in, and down and in. So, did the Tigers get themselves another Todd Jones?

Perhaps.

But Lyon is 10 years younger than the Tigers’ erstwhile closer and, in the spirit of optimism, he seems to have the durability and closer-ish stuff the bullpen so desperately needs.

(Oh, and Lyon wore number 38 in Arizona and will need a new one in Detroit…unless Jeremy Bonderman wants to give up his number. I’m guessing he ends up with 36.)

I’ll take Edwin Jackson.

• Dave Dombrowski on Edwin Jackson trade
• Jim Leyland on 2009
• Dombrowski on Laird deal
• Jason Beck on Laird, and the Adam Everett signing

The site also has some older videos too — game highlights from 2008 — but don’t bum yourself out.

Here’s what it has to say about the newest Tiger:

It’s been more than four years since Jackson was one of the top pitching prospects in the game and out-pitched Randy Johnson in his big-league debut on his 20th birthday. He’s done little since, and remains one of the game’s mysteries. He still flashes mid-90s heat and a hard slider with two-plane break, and he still has flashes of greatness, like his four-hit shutout against Texas in August (2007). Considering his youth and stuff, the Rays can afford to give him some more chances, but their rotation is going to get crowded fast, so his time to make good is running out.

In 2008, Jackson went 14-11 with a 4.42 ERA. He pitched 183 1/3 innings, allowing 199 hits and 77 walks while striking out 108. So, we’ll see.

Oh, and here’s what Dave Dombrowski had to say about the deal:

“Everybody in baseball has known his ability and potential for years. He took a step forward last year and hopefully he’ll take a step forward for us. … We’re in a spot where we get a pitcher we think will help us. He pitched on a World Series club last year. He’s got great stuff.”

Given how the Tigers starters pitched in ’08, even good stuff would be acceptable.

Great stuff? Giddyap!

While the Mets, Mariners and Indians were swingin’ a 12-player trade (with J.J. Putz as the centerpiece) the Tigers were not zeroing in on a closer, instead they were dealing for a starting pitcher.

The 25-year-old Jackson won a career-high 14 games in 2008 at the back end of the rotation during Tampa Bay’s breakout season. He posted a 4.42 ERA to go with his 14-11 record, pitching 183 1/3 innings, allowing 199 hits and 77 walks while striking out 108. Jackson’s arrival adds some more certainty to a rotation that faced major question marks at the back end. Justin Verlander and Armando Galarraga are the only certainties from last year, while Jeremy Bonderman is expected to be back to full strength after missing the second half of last season following shoulder surgery.

Ian offers some hefty analysis of the deal here.

Lynn Henning suggests that this deal could be a signal that the Tigers’ are concerned with Jeremy Bonderman‘s progress. That or the Tigers are hedging their bets against another poor season by Nate Robertson and Dontrelle Willis.

Or both. What do you make of this trade?