And I totally agree on payroll. I don’t know how the Tigers can sustain a 130M (really anything over 100M) without Illich making up the difference out of his own pocket short term with the idea he’s increasing the franchise value long term. Of course now he’ll squeeze more money out of FSN, though the Tigers should think about a TV station of their own with the Red Wings. On the other hand… the way the cable companies have treated the Big Ten, maybe that’s not such a good idea right now…

But as I’ve noted, a lot of money comes off in 2009 and even more in 2010, so they will be able to decide for themselves if they can afford Dtrain or Cabrera or both. The worry for me right now is that they may not have minor league pieces they can plug in to certain positions to help keep the rest of the payroll low.

But Dombrowski is a shrewd planner and has done nothing but give us reasons to trust him, so that’s what I’ll do.

The Article added about how the deal was put together was revealing. And it is particularly telling about the future of the ball club if it is true (who knows if Dombrowski is spinning a yarn). If Illitch wanted Cabrera on his own accord, he’ll be here for a long time come negotiation time next year. While the payroll is astronomical now, let’s not forget some money is coming off the books next year, including Rodriguez’s $13 million (he might stay, but not for anywhere near that).

The REAL question about this deal and the skyrocketing Tigers’ payroll is about how it will affect MLB as we know it. Detroit does NOT have the TV revenue and market an LA, New York or Boston has. Yet it is going to come out with a $130 million payroll. Is it a one year deal? If it isn’t, and Detroit stays at this level in what is really a mid-market town, then that means these teams are making enough money to support this kind of cost and we could see other mid-market teams (White Sox, Cardinals, Rangers, Braves, etc) see their payrolls increase 30-50%. IF that happens, and this is a big if, contracts will go even crazier than they are now, and AROD’s $270/10 years will seem like a mild bargain. We’ll see, interesting stuff for sure.