FanHouse DaveDombrowski

SAN DIEGO -- If there were any doubts that Kevin Towers was a baseball lifer, they were answered on his wedding day.

Just before exchanging vows with his wife in December 1996, the Padres general manager exchanged players with Tigers GM Randy Smith, a member of his wedding party.

"Any time you get baseball people together, especially general managers, regardless of what the venue is or what the situation is, baseball will come up," Towers said. "We started talking about players while we were waiting for my wife to show up. She was running a little late, so we decided to consumate a deal, about 30 minutes before our wedding vows."

There aren't very many parts of the United States who are feeling the crunch of our struggling economy more than the city of Detroit, and as a result, odds are there are going to be a lot more empty seats at Comerica Park this season than there have been in recent years. This isn't good news for a team with the fifth highest payroll in MLB at just over $115 million.

$15 million of that is going to Miguel Cabrera, who is in the second year of a eight-year $153 million contract. According to a report on ESPN if the Tigers fall out of contention, they might consider trading Cabrera to provide the team some financial relief, but general manager Dave Dombrowski says there's no way in the world that's going to happen.

The Daily Jolt is a dose of baseball reality every weekday morning.

The Tigers came into 2009 with a shot at redemption. Two weeks into the season, they at least seem to have the shape of a chance to accomplish that. Expectations were sky high for Detroit last year after a pair of trades brought All-Stars Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis and Edgar Renteria to the Motor City.

Those additions had some talking heads hailing the Tigers as a modern day Murderer's Row and dreaming of a 1,000-run season, but the funny thing about scooping up All-Stars is that they aren't always playing at that level when they arrive in their new team's clubhouse.

Two years removed from a trip to the World Series, Detroit wound up finishing in dead last in the AL Central in 2008, its fate sealed by injuries and, most of all, a paper-thin pitching staff.

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Detroit Tigers.

A preseason favorite to win the pennant a year ago, the Tigers collapsed under the weight of unreal expectations. Trading for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis was supposed to put this team over the top, but in hindsight Detroit's lineup, while potent, was never as good as it looked on paper and the pitching and defense ranked among the worst in the league.

Oh my God.

Pending a physical, journeyman relief pitcher and personal performance icon Kyle Farnsworth has agreed to a two-year, $9.25 million dollar contract with the Kansas City Royals. It is a deal that helps nobody, really. Unless you count us.

Step aside, respected bloggers. We got this. Tonight's Dugout is after the jump. Deep breath.

Our MLB editor files dispatches from this year's Winter Meetings in Las Vegas in Notes From Sin City.

Baseball fans know what the Winter Meetings are. They know what happens every year -- trades, big signings, and plenty of gossip in the lobby of a grand hotel. What they might not have an idea about is what the atmosphere is like inside the Bellagio.

(Full disclosure: This is my first trip to the Winter Meetings, and, frankly, it was a little bit terrifying flying out here. I had absolutely no idea what to expect.)

Let's start with the city. Las Vegas seemed a bit deflated when I arrived Sunday night -- a perfectly understandable feel considering the Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao fight was the night before. The Winter Meetings are a nice distraction, but Vegas seems to love big prizefights more than anything else.

Still, if my conversation with the cab driver who took me from the airport to my hotel is any indication, the denizens of Sin City seem virtually oblivious to the baseball invasion. He had no idea what the Winter Meetings were or that they were taking place in Las Vegas, but he had plenty to say about the National Finals Rodeo, which are taking place through the end of this week at the Thomas and Mack Center. Go figure.

Back in July of 2007 there were a lot of rumors flying around that the Pittsburgh Pirates were going to trade shortstop Jack Wilson to the Detroit Tigers. In fact, it seemed like a done deal at one point, but for some reason the deal fell through and Wilson stayed in Pittsburgh. Then the Tigers, who still needed a shortstop, went ahead and got Edgar Renteria but like many teams before them, they decided to part ways with Renteria this offseason by not offering him arbitration and now he's a San Francisco Giant.

Well, obviously that means the Tigers still need a shortstop and now they've gotten the one they wanted over a year and a half ago. Jack Wilson has been traded to the Tigers.

It seems to be the week for shortstop roulette on the Hot Stove, and the latest is that the Pirates have sent Jack Wilson to the Tigers.

The teams had been in discussions for a while, but according to a person familiar with the deal, it is done. It's unclear what the Pirates get in return.

Shortstops are just being thrown back and forth all over the place right now. The Giants signed Renteria, the Cardinals traded for Khalil Greene, and everyday it seems more likely that Rafael Furcal will end up in Oakland.

As for what the Tigers get in Wilson, not much in my opinion. He had one good season back in 2004, but other than that, he hasn't been anything special. I guess he's an improvement over Renteria on defense, but I'm not sure how much of one.

Hold-the-Phone Update: Both the Tigers and the Pirates are denying the report that Wilson has been traded, with Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski calling the report "inaccurate." Still, the Tigers have reportedly made a "fresh offer" for Wilson as recently as last night, and the Motor City remains the most likely destination for the shortstop.

The Tigers have zero interest in Edgar Renteria. This was clear back in October, when the team declined his $12 million option for 2009, and it was reinforced last night when the team declined to offer arbitration by the midnight deadline.

Had Renteria accepted, he likely would have been awarded a salary on par with last year's $9 million, which the Tigers deemed excessive given his disappointing performance both at the plate (he posted an 84 OPS+) and on the field (his .810 zone rating was among the lowest by starting major league shortstops).

But had Renteria declined and accepted a contract elsewhere, the Tigers would have been awarded a pair of draft picks as compensation. Even though the Tigers would prefer to go in a different direction, I think they should have rolled the dice and made the offer. If you believe the rumor mill, he's already agreed to a two-year deal with the Giants.

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.

The Tigers were the most disappointing team in the majors last year. A preseason pick for the World Series by many, they finished dead last in the AL Central, thanks mostly to a pitching staff that ranked 27th out of 30 teams and a defense that committed the second most errors in the league.

Only the Yankees and Mets spent more money last year, and the Tigers don't have nearly the revenue stream of their Big Apple counterparts. As such, GM Dave Dombrowski is expected to slash and burn the payroll this winter. Can he bring the Tigers back into contention without draining owner Mike Ilitch's pockets? He's facing an uphill battle, for sure, especially considering duds like Dontrelle Willis, Gary Sheffield and Nate Robertson will cost the team $33 million alone.

It's only been a couple of days since the smoke cleared and Detroit's last-place finish was cemented in stone, but already the team is making moves to prepare for next year. Without making a single roster move they significantly upgraded their defense by announcing that Brandon Inge, a Gold Glove-caliber fielder, would return to third base, mercifully ending the Carlos Guillen experiment. Guillen, who's been shifted from shortstop to first to third in the past year, is now expected to take over in left field.

Inge's return to the hot corner won't be the only change to the left side of the infield -- Dave Dombrowski also announced Monday that Edgar Renteria's 2009 option would not be picked up. Given Renteria's struggles at the plate (84 OPS+) and the field, this was a no-brainer, especially when you consider the Red Sox are the ones on the hook for Renteria's $3 million buyout.