The Tigers' signing of Magglio Ordonez is likely to bring howls of protest from the SABR community, and I count at least one of my feet planted within that community. Count me out on this critique, though. I don't know exactly how teams like the Tigers, with no recent history of winning or spending, are supposed to attract quality free agents without overpaying to some extent. Overpaying was rampant this offseason, even for the best players (Beltran) and pitchers (Martinez) on the market, so Detroit is hardly alone there. I think the strongest case you COULD have made against the Tigers is giving a player coming off two knee surgeries a 5 year contract, but they protected themselves quite well with the clause that voids the remainder of the deal is Ordonez spends 25 days on the DL next season.

Ordonez was one of the premier FA on the market. His production has been consistently high until last season, and he has no history of injury other than his knee problems last season. At his age (31), and assuming he bounces back from injury - which is a question mark - I think he'll continue to provide excellent outfield production for the next 3 years. Years 4 and especially 5 will be expensive and annoying, but unfortunately that's the going rate for high quality free agents. Congrats to the Tigers for taking an acceptable risk.