Kenny Rogers announced in an email that the Tigers are still his number one choice but that’s still not stopping him from testing the market.  You wonder if this is some backtracking ala Alex Rodriguez.  In the meantime, the Rangers appear to be the team pressing for Rogers the most and it’ll be interesting to see if he heads back to Texas.

In lieu of Rogers, the Tigers have expressed an interest in Livan Hernandez.     I didn’t realize it but Hernandez is only 32. It just seems like he’s been around forever.  The downside of Hernandez is that he’s had some really bad seasons recently.  At times he looks like a potential number two or three starter and at other times he looks like he shouldn’t be pitching at all.  One thing he is good at is eating up innings and if he can do it with quality starts, I think he’d make a solid fifth starter.  I wouldn’t want him at the front of the rotation but to have an innings eater like this on the back end would go a long way towards helping out a shaky bullpen.  Plus, you have the whole Jim Leyland/1997 Marlins connection coming back up.  It’s turning into a reunion of sorts for that team.  And in the Jason Beck piece, the Tigers have apparantly also talked to Carlos Silva.

Former Tiger Tom Brookens got a promotion and he’ll manage the Tigers Double A affiliate in Erie.  He managed the White Caps to a Midwest League title in 2007 and prior to that, he coached the Oneonta Tigers for a couple of years.

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