The Detroit Tiger Weblog and TigerBlog both are skittish about the news that the Tigers have signed Magglio Ordoñez. I am a bit more optimistic.

First, let's be clear, Ordoñez is a premier slugger. Before his injury-plagued 2004 season, the World Champion Boston Red Sox tried to get him to replace Manny Ramirez. Mags' career 162-game averages are an impressive .889 OPS, 30 HR, and 114 RBI. And that includes last year's lost season. He instantly adds the feared slugger the Tiger's needed and marks a vast improvement on the lineup that ranked in the top half in runs scored, despite playing half their games in Comerica. Now, Guillen-Mags-Pudge-Dimitri make up a heck of a middle of the lineup and there's not one real hole in the lineup.

There are two related pieces of bad news here. The first is that Ordoñez is coming off a year where he only played in 50 games due to a significant knee injury. But Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski negotiated a smart contract that can be voided if that specific knee injury comes back.

This gets at the other downside to this signing - the sheer size of the contract, $75 million over 5 years. If Ordoñez can maintain his production, the contract is clearly worth it. If his skills slip due to natural aging, it's probably an overpay, but not outrageous, I don't think. What really kills contracts like this is when the player gets hurt and their production plummets. Again, Dombrowski has protected the Tigers here. Major injury voids the contract. I don't mind paying a guy $2 million too much as a reward for past service. What drives me crazy is paying $17 million for a guy who's retired.

Anyway, welcome to the Tigers Magglio. If I were you, I'd start preparing now for your World Series MVP acceptance speech.