Tigers would have been smart to at least wait until midseason to see how well he does in the AL. Willis' numbers are declining so what was the rush here? He does come cheaper than everyone else so that is the only upside.ESPN is reporting that the Tigers and Dontrelle Willis have agreed to a three-year, $29 million contract.
Willis had to come pretty cheap for this to make any sense at all for the Tigers, and he surprisingly settled for less than Jeremy Bonderman received a year ago. The deal will buy out his first year of free agency. It's still risky for the Tigers given Willis' performance last year, but it's not going to cripple them if it goes bad.