Believe it or not, there is interest out there for Juan Pierre and his remaining contract of two years and $18.5 million. The Tigers appear to be leading the charge.
After trading away Curtis Granderson to the Yankees for pitching help, an outfield spot is now wide open. Hence, Pierre can get what he wanted: a starting gig in the outfield.
Here's what needs to happen. The Tigers have plenty of overpaid, broken down starting pitchers themselves (Dontrelle Willis, Jeremy Bonderman, and Nate Robertson). The Dodgers don't want anything to do with that, especially after the Jason Schmidt debacle they just suffered through the last three years.
To make this deal happen, the Tigers would again need to swing a three-way deal. It's unclear if another team is in on this or if the Tigers have even pursued it yet.
Look, Pierre deserves to start. We can point to his huge contract all we want, but he showed last season during Manny Ramirez's 50-game suspension how valuable he can be. He deserves better than occasionally starting and being a late-inning replacement.
The problem is that his role will continue to be that with the Dodgers. Manny's back, and Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier each had career years and are only getting better. Pierre is again the odd man out.
After the season I may not have been crazy about trading Pierre away. I liked the weapon he became off the bench. But with Randy Wolf gone, and most likely Jone Garland and Vicente Padilla, the Dodgers need starters. If they can get one, I'd swing the deal.
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