The Tigers have re-signed utility man Ramon Santiago to a 1-year, $575,000 contract. Santiago played in 32 games last season for the Tigers and he was 19 for 67 (.284 avg, .712 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 7 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He has now played in 308 games in his major league career and he is 199 for 860 (.231 avg, .600 OPS) with 103 runs scored, 6 homers, 61 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. Santiago is also a really good defensive player which will help the Tigers on days that he plays.

The Tigers have acquired 24 year old lefty starting pitcher Danny Christensen from the Royals as the player to be named later in the Roman Colon trade of last season. Christensen pitched in 27 games (24 starts) last season in AA ball for the Royals and he was 3-15 with a 6.21 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP. He worked 140.2 innings last season and he allowed 173 hits, walked 56 batters and whiffed 99. Don’t expect much from Christensen in the future for the Tigers.

The Tigers were probably going to let Joel Zumaya be the closer this season but that changed when he hurt himself again in the off season. That meant big money for Todd Jones to return as the closer of the Tigers as he will earn $7 million bucks next season. Jones pitched in 63 games last season for the Tigers and he was 1-4 with 38 saves, a 4.26 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. Jones has now pitched in 937 games (1 start) in his major league career and he is 54-62 with 301 saves, a 3.93 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. He has thrown 1030.1 innings in his career and he has allowed 1,022 hits, walked 425 batters and whiffed 854.

The Tigers have acquired Jacque Jones from the Cubs for Omar Infante who had fallen out of favor with the Tigers. Jones will likely platoon in left field with Marcus Thames and they should produce big numbers between them. Jones played in 135 games for the Cubs last season and he was 129 for 453 (.285 avg, .735 OPS) with 52 runs scored, 5 homers, 66 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. The Tigers are hoping that Jones can regain his power stroke that he had with the Twins earlier in his career. Jones has now played in 1,260 games in his career and he is 1,255 for 4,478 (.280 avg, .784 OPS) with 617 runs scored, 164 homers, 623 RBIs and 82 stolen bases. This was a good move for the Tigers who had decided last season that they like Ramon Santiago over Infante as the utility infielder because of his defense.

Joel Zumaya will miss at least the first half of the 2008 season after undergoing shoulder surgery on Wednesday. He was injured moving personal items during the California wild fires. This is a huge blow to the Tigers who were considering giving Zumaya a shot at closing this season. Zumaya had a injury filled 2007 season also as he pitched in only 28 games and he was 2-3 with a 4.28 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. Zumaya has now pitched in 90 games in his major league career and he is 8-6 with 2 saves, a 2.62 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. In 117 innings in his career he has allowed 79 hits, walked 59 batters and whiffed 124.