The Detroit Tigers released Gary Sheffield on Tuesday 1 home run shy of his 500th career home run. Sheffield was batting. 178 with 8 hits and 5 home runs during spring. Shef was released after the Tigers acquired Josh Anderson from the Braves.
Sheffield's stay in Detroit after they acquired him from the Yankees was filled with injuries. In two seasons with the Tigers he played in 246 games missing 78 games. With 5/8 of his hits this spring being home runs it appears he still has power and could be useful to some team. But who would take a chance on him? Since the Tigers have to pay around $10 million to him he is likely to sign with a team for one year and a small salary with Detroit paying the rest.
One would think at the age of 40 Shef will only sign with a contender. Expect the Yankees to take a look at him as well as the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, St Louis Cardinals, and Arizona Diamondbacks to take a look at him. I just dont know who would be willing to sign him. He appears to be a player who can only play DH due to injuries. The White Sox, Red Sox and Yankees have Jim Thome, David Ortiz and Hideki Matsui as DH and wouldnt likely be interested. The NL teams would be taking a big chance signing Shef. So what other contenders in the AL may be willing to go after Shef?
LA Angels appear to be the most likely team for him to go to. The Angels are a team I see as a Top 5 team in the AL. With players like Vlad, Torii Hunter, Juan Rivera, Gary Mathews Jr, Mike Napoli, Howie Kendrick, and Chone Figgins the Angels have a solid lineup. Kendry Morales is slated as the DH so Shef could come in and start at DH. I would expect a team to express interest within the week.
While the Angels appear to be a front runner you can never count out the Yankees and how they love to spend money. Also with the Yankees busy off season the Red Sox could try and just add a high profile player.
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