Tigers, Ramon Santiago to Sign Two-Year $4M Contract

The Detroit Tigers have announced they've agreed to re-sign middle infielder Ramon Santiago to a two-year deal. (Rosenthal). Jon Paul Morosi says the deal is for 2-years, $4 million according to his sources.

Santiago is entering his 11th major-league season, all but two of which he's spent with the Tigers (the other two were in Seattle). He's a prototypical bench option on a good team, giving the Tigers breathers at second, short, and third. Santiago is a career .249 / .316 / .342 hitter, which is just enough to keep him around as a back up utility guy. Jim Bowden points out that with his glove, if he just had speed or power, he'd be good-enough as an every day player.

I'm guessing that the Tigers are still on the hunt for an every day starter, but Leyland did have Santiago starting a number of games toward the end of last season. More when we hear it.