FRIDAY: The Tigers announced the deal. It's a one-year contract for $1MM, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (on Twitter).
THURSDAY: The Tigers and Gerald Laird have agreed to a one-year contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). The deal is still pending a physical.
Laird, 32, spent the 2009-2010 seasons in Detroit after coming over in a trade with the Rangers. He hit just .232/.302/.358 in 108 plate appearances with the World Series Champion Cardinals this past season, throwing out just four of 20 attempted basestealers. The move allows the Tigers to use Victor Martinez as a full-time DH.
Don´t like this move
LOL!
The only way this is a good move is if the Tigers let pitchers bat and DH for Laird instead.
Hooray….the 3-fingered assassin returns.
NO!!!!! Jelly Belly why you leaving the Cards? Now how are we suppose to defend our championship!?!?!
I agree. It dampened the chances of a potential repeat. But we WILL prevail!
I can only remember Laird’s game 163 performance..0/6 and like 10 LOB..I pray Avila doesn’t get hurt.
I think I just puked….
Don’t like this move. Avila needs to stay healthy.
I like the move. They need someone and wouldn’t overpay for a backup catcher who will probably play less than most backup catchers Avila is still an iron man and Laird knows the pitchers plus he gets raves for his clubhouse temperament. Even though Sean Casey was a mid level 1st basemen for the Tigers, Jason Grilli said the ’07 Tigers weren’t the same as the ones who had the ’06 magic because Casey’s personality stabilized the mood amongst players. Laird may not have that much of a transcendent impact, but Tigers know him and trust him.
he better throw out better than 20% of the runners in 2012 – that’s for F*&# sure!
I think these were the runners Laird throw out in 2011: King Kong, Godzilla and Homer Simpson
No, Godzilla got under the tag.
I haven’t seen Laird catch a game since he left detroit, but I hope he’s mastered the throw back to pitcher. I mean, without the pump fakes…
Sweet now maybe the cardinals can play “name that Molina” and get Jose for a back up.
Cruz.
No, Tony will be the back-up. Cruz. Tony Cruz.
haha what?
Mr Potato Head is back
hopefully he brings his “arm part”
“Hey guys, check out this cool ring I got from the Cardinals”
Oh good. I missed all his pop-ups and dugout fights.
Wow this sucks
what happens if Yadi get hurt? Is Matheny going to go out there and catch?
An interesting possibility, actually. Probably means the Cards won’t need to carry 3 catchers for the next few years…
Ah yes, but Tony Cruz will be the backup.
Really now? Laird? We couldn’t have done better than Laird?
As a dirt cheap backup(which I assume he will be), no they couldn’t. He’ll do just fine once every 5 games.
I was hoping for Kelly Shoppach.
Look, I understand he’ll probably only play 30, 40 games at most.
But it’s Gerald Laird.
I know, I know…but considering his salary last year was 1 mil, and he didn’t exactly do anything to help his stock, so he’s gonna be cheap. 1 mil is worth not killing avilla, and you won’t be sacrificing any defense with G$ in the game. This was a smart signing.
FWIW, Laird’s defense wasn’t that good last year. Slightly below average.
This must have been a personal request from Jim Leyland. Hope we got him dirt-cheap, and put him on a diet. Pretty amazing that he was able to get in 108 plate appearances in the post-season, too.
That was definitely a typo. I’m sure he meant this “past” season. Yadi caught every single game of the postseason. Laird may have gotten 1 or 2 PAs as a pinch hitter.
actually, that was 108 bags of sunflower seeds gerald ate during the playoffs
Joe Dumars better tell his unemployed crew to keep their wives at home, or Team Laird will start it all up in a new city…
can you explain that better sir, sounds interesting!
Google ‘Gerald Laird Phoenix Suns’ and all will be explained.
Amazing that G Money is still in the bigs, but think about it. How many legit catchers are there? Twelve? It therefore follows that nobody’s back up is any good. If he stands in the right handed batters box, can assume the position, stop a reasonable portion of pitches in the dirt, hit .200 without power and throw out the occasional base stealer, he’s no worse than anybody else. Did Jose Molina get too fat to play? Did Kelly Shoppach want $3M? Neither one of them are great either.
The alternative is to use a minor leaguer who would hit .100, not block balls in the dirt, not throw anybody out. Given the minimum is $400K, if you give G Money $1M (I’m betting that’s the number) it’s really nothing. Wish Victor could still squat, though….that would be a huge advantage on all competition.
The alternative is not having to look at Laird for 162 games… I hope he just stays in the clubhouse sometimes…
Are you sure the cardboard cutout wasn’t available? He would have made such a nicer backup, even if he can’t hold a bat!
I would feel more comfortable with Kelly being our backup catcher even though that would never happen
Sure, but there are two points to consider:
1. Shoppach is in line for quite a bit more money than Laird.
2. Shoppach may not be interested in backing up Avila, who started 130 games last season.
I get the feeling he was talking about Don Kelly.
If laird catches all of Verlanders starts (which he has done many times)…..that would be ~33 starts…and do we need offense on those days – not usually. If he catches half of the porcello games (he’s caught many porcello games and G$ usually calls a good game) then he’s got ~45 starts this year…. Sounds like a plan
Verlander likes Avila as his catcher now, I have to beleive.
Just when we thought we were rid of him. He’s like that ex that you always find yourself waking up next to after getting trashed the night before. Thinking, “Damn’t! Not again!” I would have much rather had Chris Snyder as a back up. Hopefully it’s a minor league contract and we don’t put him on the roster.
I realize that the availability of viable Major League backup catcher is meager but I refuse to believe Laird is one of the better ones out there, even if true.
Laird will probably cost an RP’s or Bettimit’s spot on the roster. I can only hope that signing Laird who’s probably the cheapest backup C available will enable DD to sign a legit 2B or 3B.
WTF!!! all of these other catchers out there and they bring him back. WTF??? Please give me the rationale behind this move…
you would have thought he’d retire after getting a ring. How lucky can one guy be?
He signed for $1 million for 100 years
so for 1 mil. to see him for 100-150 plate appearances. it is what it is.
I wanted Jose Molina. Always wanted a Molina brother….but for 1 mil who cares.
Glad I wasn’t the only one. :
G Unit……I mean G Money
What the hell is wrong with Omir Santos? He’ll hit 60 points better than Laird and his defense can’t be any worse.