Mailbag: Could the Tigers sign A-Rod?

There are a few dozen more of these in my inbox, so let's take care of them. It's pretty much wishful thinking.

While it's tough to predict sometimes where owner Mike Ilitch is willing to go -- and I don't pretend to know for sure -- there are a lot of reasons for the Tigers not to go there. First, they have more than a few long-term contracts as it is, and more importantly, they're going to be facing potential long-term contract decisions on their key younger players in the next couple years, particularly Justin Verlander, Curtis Granderson and Joel Zumaya. There's no way to add the highest-paid player in baseball without having it cost you elsewhere, even with an aggressive payroll. You either end up with an older team or a club built around one good player rather than a player who's part of a good club.

Even if they would go there, this isn't a free agency situation like Magglio Ordonez or Ivan Rodriguez, where the Tigers were willing to take a chance that some teams wouldn't. Alex Rodriguez will have a chance to choose from all sorts of potential destinations if he elects to become a free agent, and if he wants, it'll be somewhere he can end his career years and years from now. That brings in a lot of decisions besides simply finding the best place to win.

Even in the rosiest of scenarios, the logistics don't look like a fit. The Tigers have a good working relationship with Scott Boras. On the other hand, he has many clients, and not all of them kick the tires on Detroit. This team isn't built to take on that kind of contract, and even with attendance at three million this season, this isn't a top-5 kind of market.

And before you talk about doing whatever it takes to win, remember this: David Eckstein, Omar Vizquel, and even Ramon Santiago have been to more World Series than A-Rod.

You're right. He was in that 92-94 mph range in a few starts in September. But it wasn't in all of his final six starts, because the first start in that range was Sept. 1 at Oakland, where he was consistently at 98-99 in his final few innings. In his final start of the season at Chicago, he was consistently at 97-98, even hitting 100.

I'm not sure it's fair to judge Verlander's energy by how many times he throws 100 mph. Even at his best, he's not going to do it every time out. You're more likely to see him closer to 94-96 consistent and topping out around 98. He was a couple ticks down from that in a few September starts, but watching him throw, there wasn't the sense like last year that was simply out of gas.

I'll stand by the idea that he was the strongest starter the Tigers had in September. His numbers in his last six starts: 4-1, 3.20 ERA, .232 opposing average, and 37 strikeouts over 39 1/3 innings. He pitched at least six innings in all but one of those starts, and he topped 100 pitches in four of them.

The plan for now has them in competition for one open spot in the rotation come Spring Training, but that assumes the Tigers re-sign Kenny Rogers or add a veteran starter if Rogers doesn't come back. If both Miller and Jurrjens are in the rotation next year, it probably means either someone in the rotation is injured or the Tigers' plans for a veteran starter didn't go as hoped.

I don't really think preferences play into it so much as the Tigers basically decided it wasn't best for the team. Inge hasn't caught in more than three years, and he'll turn 31 years old next season. As good a catcher as he was years ago, he has been an infielder too long and is probably too old to make the move back again, at least on a full-time basis. Could he back up at catcher like Eric Munson or Robert Fick, if needed? Possibly, but the Tigers don't need that, either.

See above. I know it's just a shift a few feet over on the infield, but third and short require two different skill sets. Third is more of a position of quick reactions than positioning and range, and while Inge is a tremendous athlete, it's a shaky proposition to believe he could make the move over every day. If he was a utility player, maybe he could do it on a given day, but I don't think it's an option now. Nor is closer, which Inge also played in college.

Or one of them gets traded...