The OTHER 40 Year-Old Pitcher From Texas

Well, the Tigers almost did what I wanted them to do, and maybe this is better anyway.

They signed a 40-something starting pitcher, all right, someone from a team that plays in the Lone Star State. But it was Kenny Rogers, not Roger Clemens, who inked a deal -- two years for reportedly $16 million -- that will bring the Tigers that veteran anchor to their starting rotation. I had campaigned for the Tigers to recruit Clemens, recently cut loose by the Astros. Instead they snagged Rogers, 41, from the Rangers.

Most likely, signing the lefthanded Rogers, though the money is awfully high for someone who will be 43 by the time the contract expires, will nicely fill a void in the rotation for Detroit. Don’t get me wrong; I’m still loathe to throw big money at free agent pitchers. But Rogers, like Roger (Clemens), has proven to be durable for most of his 17-year career. There’s a risk factor, certainly, but odds are the Tigers will get two seasons and 50 or 60 starts from Rogers during them. And if recent history holds as a trend, those starts will be mostly quality ones.

Rogers was practically unhittable before the All-Star break in 2005, and even though he came back to earth a tad from August on, he still finished with 14 wins and a 3.46 ERA. Those numbers qualify you as an ace on the Tigers staff. In 2004, Rogers won a career-high 18 games. He is approaching 200 wins in his career. The Tigers haven’t seen such numbers from a starting pitcher since Jack Morris, back in the day.

And, like Morris -- or rather, Rogers can be like Morris Concentrate -- Rogers has an edge that the Tigers have so desperately needed on the hill from a starter. Of course, that "edge" can cut like a knife.

May as well get into it right now. Rogers has anger issues, as we all know. It gained national prominence last June when he went ballistic on a TV cameraman, which is usually not a smart thing to do because the guy has.....a camera! And so, the attack was caught on videotape, and played as much as the Zapruder film for a few days. The timing of the incident was such that there were calls for Rogers -- named to the All-Star team -- to forfeit his spot on the American League squad as a sort of penance for his actions. Yours truly hopped on that bandwagon, mainly because it might have paved the way for Detroit’s Jeremy Bonderman to make the team. The game was played in the Motor City, which would have made Bonderman’s appointment even richer. So I wrote that Rogers should, indeed, have stepped aside. I still believe it would have been the right and honorable thing to do, his signing with Detroit notwithstanding.

If Kenny Rogers has any weird incidents as a Tiger, it would be the first such occurrences around Detroit baseball in quite some time. The Tigers have not only been bad for most of the past 16 years, they’ve been....borrring. The dissension that tore through the Tigers clubhouse in 2005 and contributed to manager Alan Trammell’s dismissal was an anomaly; normally the Tigers are a bunch of "good guys" who all get along swell and consider themselves pals and who go out and lose 60 percent of the time, or more. There’s been a bunch of vanilla about them. If ever the phrase "Nice guys finish last" was applicable, it’s had as its bullseye the yearly mess that has been Detroit Tigers baseball.

That isn’t to say I am advocating Kenny Rogers to go cameraman hunting again, or anything similar. That’s bad for business. Instead, I am saying that if Rogers is able to keep his anger in check, his feistiness can only be good for a team that is struggling to find its way under a new manager, Jim Leyland, who I have a feeling doesn’t mind having a surly guy or two on his ballclub -- as long as it’s channeled in a positive manner.

Did the Tigers overpay by giving Kenny Rogers $16 million over two years? Probably. But then again, they’ve been overpaying for hitters lately, and that hasn’t panned out so well. Throwing big money at free agent pitchers isn’t my cup of tea as a rule, but I feel better when it’s given to a guy who has a track record -- unlike some of these flash-in-the-pans who’ve been raking in the dough the last several winters.

So forget what I said about going after Roger Clemens. We now have our own 40 year-old-plus guy from Texas -- at $8 mil a year.