1. If you were holding out hope that Timo Perez would be the answer to the Tigers’ left-handed hitting outfielder problem — I’m looking at you, Big Al — we have some disappointing news: Timo signed a minor-league deal with the Dodgers.
   

   Perez, 34, split the 2009 season between the independent Can-Am league’s New Jersey and Veracruz of the Mexican League.

   And here I thought he was still in Toledo.

2. First, let’s tip our cap to birthday boy Magglio Ordonez. With that out of the way, let’s compare Maggs to someone else who was born on this date in 1974: the ulcer-generating-Tigers-bully Jermaine Dye. If you had to guess, who would you say hit more home runs?

   If you said Magglio (as I did) you would be incorrect. In fact, Dye has hit 48 more home runs. Now, I soon remembered that Magglio missed most of 2004 (52 games) and half of ‘05 (82), and Dye has one more season under his belt. But when you look at their other career offensive stats, they’re darned comparable (with Ordonez ahead in all the other stats cherry-picked for this post):

   –>Average

   • Dye: .274
   • Ordonez: .312

     –>Hits

   • Dye: 1,779
   • Ordonez: 1,974

     –>RBI

   • Dye: 1,072
   • Ordonez: 1,145

     –>Doubles

   • Dye: 363
   • Ordonez: 399

     –>OPS

   • Dye: .826
   • Ordonez: .884

   Who knew? Oh, and Happy Birthday, Jermaine. May Opening Day 2010 find you in the Tigers dugout or in the National League.

3. On this date in 1992 the Tigers avoided salary arbitration with Cecil Fielder by agreeing to a $4.5 million contract. At the time, it was the largest one-year deal in major-league history. And soon Justin Verlander will blow right past that number.

• In the past, I used to write press releases that I liked to describe as “content-free.” In response to the Mitchell Report the Tigers today issued perhaps the shortest release (of any variety) I’ve ever seen. It’s really not worth your time to read it but here’s the second (and last) paragraph:
  

  The eradication of performance-enhancing substances in baseball and protecting the integrity of the game are the ultimate goals of the industry.

  Call me a cynic, but I thought winning baseball games and driving revenue growth, not in that order, were the ultimate goals of the industry.

• Christmas came early at The Daily Fungo headquarters. In less than a week we had two mentions in Rob Neyer’s blog on ESPN.com (you can find them here and here). Be sure to check out my interview with Rob on the podcast.

• I don’t often read Drew Sharp’s columns mainly because, well, more often than not I wonder what the hell he’s talking about. Take today’s column for example:
  

  It’s now officially the Steroids Era.

  It is?

  This statement — and the column’s headline, “Mitchell Report officially welcomes in Steroid Era”, which, in fairness, Sharp didn’t write — misses the point.

  I believe this report ushers out the Steroid Era. The Steroid Era started in the early 1990s — if not earlier — and ended quite recently.

  Perhaps today.

• 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.