Ramon Santiago Gets a Pretty Sweet Deal to Remain with Detroit Tigers

Ramon Santiago took a shot at free agency but it was a little scary out there, so he came right back to the Detroit Tigers for a $4.2 million, two-year contract on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old infielder will split that salary right down the middle for each of the next two seasons, and might even get the extra playing time he's been after. That lack of playing time was part of the reason free agency didn't work out so well for him: no one was willing to offer him more time at the plate and fellow infielder Carlos Guillen will not likely be returning to the Tigers next season. However, since Ryan Raburn will be around in 2012, it looks like Santiago will have to share the middle infield anyway.

Santiago batted .260 with five homers and 30 RBI over 101 games with Detroit last season, which may or may not warrant a $750,000 raise. However, the second half of the season must have been fresh in the minds of Detroit brass since he batted .295 after the All-Star break to help lead the Tigers to the postseason. Then there's the business of how he played at second.

While Santiago has played a lot of short stop in his 10 big league seasons, last year he was also part of a four-man rotation at second base, batting .289 in 75 games starting there. But regardless of where he played or how he played, manager Jim Leyland says he's the most well-liked guy in the clubhouse:

"With his teammates, he could be the most popular player we have. I'm thrilled to have him back. He's happy with what he got and feels we were fair, and we're happy with what we gave him. It doesn't get any better than that. This is a situation in which everybody wins."

[MLB]

CC Sabathia Struggles in Game 3 Loss to Tigers, Yankees on Brink of Elimination

CC Sabathia was all over the place Monday night in his New York Yankees' 5-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers, who now hold a 3-1 lead in the best-of-five American League Division Series.

The chubby left-hander, who could barely lob the ball to Russell Martin on an intentional walk, matched a postseason-worst with six walks. He literally could not find the strike zone... and he feels pretty bad about it:

"I put us in a bad spot... the next time I get the ball, I'll try to go out and try to help us win."

Too bad he might not get the chance until next season.

But it wasn't all CC's fault. Rafael Soriano, the $161 million man who was tagged with the loss, surrendered the go-ahead home run to Delmon Young in the seventh inning. Two innings later, Jose Valverde had Tigers fans sweating for the second straight game with the Yankees rallying in the ninth, but Derek Jeter failed miserably, striking out with two runners on for the final out.

Justin Verlander was pretty solid for Detroit, giving up four runs on six hits with three walks, but fanning a career postseason-best 11 batters. Hitting an incredible 101-mph on the gun into the eighth inning, the right-hander gained run support through second baseman Ramon Santiago, who went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. Meanwhile, Jhonny Peralta nailed an RBI double to tie it up in the sixth just before Sabathia's exit.

Now on the brink of elimination Tuesday night, the Yankees will look to A.J. Burnett, who sucked quite a bit this season, to shift the series back to New York and force a Game 5. Rick Porcello, a career 2-2 with a 5.56 ERA against the Bronx Bombers, will pitch Game 4 for Detroit at 8:30pm ET on TBS.

[Detroit Free Press]