Lynn Henning

Tigers face free-agent choices

Detroit

Among the background stories on a Tigers team with no shortage of drama is their free agency situation.

The Tigers have a handful of players who could find themselves on the free-agent auction block this autumn: Fernando Rodney, Placido Polanco, Brandon Lyon, and Adam Everett.

What happens with those players has ramifications beyond 2010. It has to do with draft picks, which the Tigers will receive if any of the above qualify as a Type A or Type B free agent and sign elsewhere -- as long as the Tigers offer them salary arbitration for 2010.

And that's where things get sticky.

Each year Elias Sports Bureau computes free agents based upon their performance class. Type A free agents are prime-time players who statistically rank within the top 20 percent of players at their position over a two-year period.

Type B free agents rank within the top 40 percent spanning a two-year interlude.

Compensatory picks

A team losing a Type A free agent -- provided the team losing him has offered salary arbitration -- picks up an extra first-round draft pick the following season from the team that signed him. That changes if the signing team finished in the bottom half of the overall standings, in which case it gives up a second-round pick rather than a first-rounder (the Tigers lost a second-rounder when they signed Troy Percival in 2004).

The losing team also receives a "sandwich" draft pick, courtesy of Major League Baseball, which is offered between the first and second rounds.

Signing a Type B free agent does not cost the signing team a draft pick, although the team losing that player gets one of those handy "sandwich" picks from MLB.

It probably doesn't make up for saying goodbye to a quality player, but the early draft picks are a nice consolation prize for a team losing premier talent, especially if it's a team known for smart drafting, which is a status the Tigers have since achieved.

Coming and going

Here's how it all shakes out for the Tigers with three very big months ahead. Players who might be of one status this week can move up, or down, over the second half of the season. But here goes:

Polanco: He has been floating between Type A and B categories all spring, based upon research done by the MLBTradeRumors.com Web site, and passed on by Eddie Bajek, a serious Tigers follower from Jacksonville, Fla., who tracks this stuff like a CIA sleuth, and whose blog is tigers-thoughts.blogspot.com.

Polanco will likely be allowed to chase free agency this autumn. It appears the Tigers will move a new second baseman into the picture in 2010. The dicey decision for the Tigers will be whether to offer Polanco arbitration. If they offer it and he accepts, they're on the hook for a big payday in 2010.

If they don't, then Polanco is free to sign elsewhere and the Tigers receive no compensation. It's precisely the pickle the Tigers found themselves in last year when they couldn't risk arbitration on Edgar Renteria, who was a Type A player and who signed free of charge (draft picks, anyway) with the Giants.

Rodney: He is a Type B free agent at the moment but could end up as a Type A with a big second half. The Tigers are thinking about Joel Zumaya as their likely closer in 2010, with Ryan Perry as a probable set-up man. But they will likely offer Rodney arbitration. Rodney is a good bet to sign a multi-year deal elsewhere, which, at the moment looks like a great deal for all parties involved.

Lyon, at the moment, is just beneath Type B status but could move up with a big second half. He is in roughly the same boat as Rodney with respect to the Tigers and arbitration.

Everett needs a big second half to approach Type B status. But that may be a moot point. The Tigers love Everett and will likely want him back. Don't be surprised if a contract is offered well before free agency becomes an issue for either party.

lynn.henning@detnews.com (313) 222-2472