I admitted to Ian that it’s way early but that doesn’t mean that panic is not setting in everywhere around Comerica Park — but never at Fungo HQ!

So, I’m lobbing it out there: Are the Tigers wondering what they signed themselves up for over the next seven years?

Maybe.

Fast-forward to this afternoon and the latest installment of Jayson Stark’s Rumblings and Grumblings on ESPN.com. This time he reviews the off-season trades and the Tigers’ deals are getting anything but passing grades.

6. Braves-Tigers (RHP Jair Jurrjens and OF Gorkys Hernandez for Edgar Renteria): “At this point, Atlanta has won that deal,” said one scout. “Jurrjens [4-2, 2.84] has been their most consistent starter.”

Ouch.

And if you think that’s a harsh assessment, get a load of this:

9. Tigers-Marlins (Miguel Cabrera and LHP Dontrelle Willis for LHP Andrew Miller, OF Cameron Maybin, C Mike Rabelo, RHP Burke Badenhop, RHP Eulogia De La Cruz and RHP Dallas Trahern): We won’t be able to judge Florida’s half of this deal until about 2010. And Willis has been a mess. But the surprise is that Cabrera has been: (a) an offensive disappointment, (b) such a defensive disaster at third base that he had to be shifted to first within three weeks, and (c) so lackadaisical that players on other teams are privately questioning whether he flicked on his cruise-control switch after signing an eight-year, $153.3-million contract this spring. “I expected him to come in there and be superman,” said one scout. “He’s been anything but that.”

Ugly stuff.

Ready for more? Each week Stark touches base with big-league scouts on what they are seeing and hearing. It sure looks like no one likes what they see from Cabrera.

“For $150 million, you’d like to at least see him run a ball out. I watched him for a week, and I think there was one ball all week where he tried to extend himself. That was a double-play ball, and he was still like 4.8 [seconds] getting down the line. On a routine ground ball, he’s 5.2, maybe 5.1. It’s ridiculous to even pull the clock out.”

So, is it too soon to call this trade a blunder? Of course it is. And it would be a lot worse if, say, Cameron Maybin were tearing up the National League.

But you have to wonder if the Tigers brass is wishing they could take a mulligan…if not on the mega-deal with the Marlins, then at least on the month of April.

What do you think?

• Call me naive, but I thought the Kenny Rogers thing would be a slam dunk, even with The Scott Boras Factor. Now that Rogers, who turned 43 on Saturday, is testing the market — the market for a mid-40s pitcher coming off a season virtually lost to serious injury that is — one has to wonder if the Tigers have used up the patience they reserve for dealing with Boras. From everything I’ve read, most still expect a deal to get hammered out. And I tend to think so too if only because Dave Dombrowski doesn’t seem to be a cut-off-the-nose-to-spite-the-face kind of guy.Speaking of Rogers, I thought I’d stumbled upon major news over at Yahoo! Sports when I read in this Tigers rumor:
  

  According to the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit Tigers and free agent lefty Kenny Rogers have parted ways.  

  If you read to the story referenced in the piece you’ll see that nowhere does it say Rogers isn’t coming back. Perhaps a little fact checking would help.I’m intrigued by the Dontrelle Willis thing but can’t fathom what it would take to acquire him (for starters, Brandon Inge, perhaps?). Sure seems like a drastic change of course going from re-signing Rogers to dealing for Willis.Ah, but you gotta love the smell of hickory on the Hot Stove.

• Our man Ian Casselberry notified me of the Omar Infante-for-Jacque Jones trade this afternoon. I think it’s safe to say Ian and I were both underwhelmed by the move. As Jon Paul Morosi suggests, this is likely a stop-gap solution until Cameron Maybin is ready for prime time, all the time. If that’s the case, I supposed I can live with it.

Still, you have to believe that somewhere in the Dominican Republic, Timo Perez is wondering what he has to do to become more than a September call up.But probably not in those words.

• If you missed it, Joel Zumaya turned 23 on Friday. Here’s hoping his birthday wish was for health and wellness. And, while the Lions were stinking up University of Phoenix Stadium yesterday, Jason Grilli and Chuck Hernandez were celebrating birthdays. A belated #31 to Grilli and #47 to Hernandez. To help you plan your card and gift shopping, here are the upcoming Tigers birthdays of note: Nov. 18 – Gary Sheffield (39); Nov. 19 – Preston Larrison (27); Nov. 29 – Tony Giarratano (25); Nov. 30 – Ivan Rodriguez (36). 
• Mr. Casselberry and I also wondered aloud who the Tigers backup catcher would be on Opening Day. Vance Wilson should be ready to come back and reclaim his job, but Mike Rabelo certainly made a case for himself in 2007. Too bad one of them can’t play another position — or that Ryan Raburn can’t catch. Ian thinks Rabelo comes North. I’m undecided but tend to think Wilson will rejoin the team if he has anything that resembles a decent spring.

• As Doug articulated last week, the pitching is the Tigers’ main concern. Now that everyone on the staff has strung together successive forgettable outings, I can’t help but think back to an article on ESPN.com a while back. The author (either Jayson Stark or Buster Olney) advanced the theory that the Tigers pitching staff was simply paying the price for pitching deep into October last season. It’s looking like there’s some merit here.
• How about that Ryan Raburn? And while we’re at it, how about Mike Rabelo? Position players from the farm system making a contribution. Outstanding!
• For the second straight year the Tigers face brutal month of August. Last year it was quality opponents and a key injury to Placido Polanco in Boston that made August miserable for the team and its fans. This year it’s looking to be much the same story.
• Long before the White Sox took the Tigers to the woodshed in Chicago two weeks ago and in Detroit this weekend, I said they’d continute to cause problems. Tigers fans can only hope the team’s post-season hopes don’t rely on winning a game at U.S. Cellular Field that last weekend of September. Oy.

Finally, on our way to Denver yesterday we stopped off in Silverton, Colo. for a pit stop. In the Silverton visitor’s center a nice, silver haired man sat at the information desk wearing an immaculate Tigers home cap — fitted, of course.I asked him if he was from the Detroit area and he said, “No, I just like the hat.”Which means he likely doesn’t visit this site very often.Then he added, “Well, that and of course Magnum wore it on the TV show.”Ouch.