Yesterday, Tigers owner Mike Ilitch announced that his team had signed Prince FIelder to a 9 year, 214 million dollar contract—for those wondering this means Fielder, if paid in $1 bills, is going to receive about 471,790 lbs of money, or about 1716 Prince Fielder's worth of money. Diversions aside, when Fielder's deal was announced there were heaps of praise served to Ilitch and, in some cases, Detroit fans:

#Tigers fans show up in droves despite terrible economy and owner rewards them by signing a star. That's how it's supposed to work.

-John Perrotto via Twitter

First, let's figure out if the claim that Tigers fans supported the team to an unusual extent is credible:

[Source]

Detroit went to the World Series in 2006, the last time they had made the playoffs before 2011. In that context, my cocked-head guess is that Detroit is supported almost exactly at the level we ought to expect. Detroit is something like the 12th largest metro area in the US and, by these rankings for radio market size, about the 11th largest market. Obviously, all of the markets ahead of Detroit have (at least) one baseball team, so it follows that the Tigers, if they don't absolutely poison the well, ought to be about the eleventh best supported team in an average year.

That term 'average year' probably isn't a particularly useful one, and we could anecdotally point out how bad the Detroit economy is, but there's not much of an argument here. The stronger argument would be if Detroit pulled a St. Louis, which consistently ranks much higher by attendance percentage than it does by market size.

Anyway, point being: Tigers' fans don't appear to have done anything particularly inspirational to push Illitch to this move, as Perrotto asserts with his imagined virtuous cycle. Tigers fans didn't show up at any greater rate than they had the previous few years, and, just as expected, fan interest had waned as the Tigers became farther removed from the playoffs. If someone wants to do a more complex analysis (and one is certainly justified), I'm happy to be proven wrong.

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Just over a year ago I wrote a piece here asking where the wins would come for a team that had won just 69 games and then made very few significant offseason additions. Perhaps not surprisingly, the same question could be asked today, although of a team that surprised many by starting strong and, despite some struggles late, winning 80 games. First, it is worth noting that the Indians ended up performing pretty close to what I had identified as a best case scenario, though by a slightly different route than I had anticipated. Here is what I wrote last January:

A reasonable high-end scenario for 2011, where some, but not all things work out for the Tribe, has them close to an 81 win team, with a few breaks taking them to the mid-80s. This scenario would put Cleveland into a strong position heading into next off-season, with internal prospects likely in place to fill in the gaps and good incentive to add payroll via a key free agent signing heading into 2012. Here's to hope (and wins)...

Way to go me! Although the Indians accomplished this in ways I did not exactly anticipate. I correctly noted that Asdrubal could be a big part of an improved 2011 squad, that a full season of Santana would help a lot, but struck out on several other areas. Here is how my predictions stacked up against the reality of 2011 (Note: Last year I used fangraphs WAR totals. Based on personal preference, I am using B-Ref's numbers this year)

What follows is something akin to a back of the bar napkin look at the 2012 Indians, based on their 2011 performance and offseason moves.

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Placed Fausto Carmona* on Restricted List

Placing a player on the Restricted List removes him from the 40-man Roster and also stops his pay. Usually players that are placed on this list have been suspended by MLB for testing positive for Performance-Enhancing Drugs, or off-field legal issues (for example, the White Sox placed Alexei Ramirez on the Restricted List when they traveled to Toronto because the shortstop's work visa prevented him from re-entering the United States); in this case Indians used it for the latter reason. Carmona/Heredia is still under contract with the Indians while on the Restricted List.

The move seems to signal that the Indians will not attempt to void Carmona's contract, at least for now. Going from 28 to 31 years old is a big deal when it comes to free agency, but as Carmona is already under contract for the 2012 season, it shouldn't change the Indians' plans for him this year, assuming, of course, he can enter the country. He was slated for a spot in the rotation, and if he takes care of his legal and visa problems, he'd go back into the rotation, even if he doesn't arrive in the US until mid-season.

Indians manager Manny Acta, who was in the Cleveland area on Thursday for the team's "Tribe on Tour" event, said Carmona is still considered a big part of the team's rotation.

"He's a very important part of it," Acta said. "You don't find 200 innings on every corner of America. Just two years ago, he had 210 quality innings. But, life goes on."

Why did Carmona resort to purchasing someone else's identity? Because when he signed with the Indians, he was 20 years old, and even someone that young is too old for an amateur free agent from the Dominican Republic. Players in the US who don't get drafted high enough or drafted at all coming out of high school have the opportunity to play at the collegiate level and get a second opportunity to get a big bonus three years later at age 20 or 21, but that wasn't an option for Carmona.

"I believe that Major League Baseball is doing a tremendous job right now to help better the system," Acta said. "But, it's just been a flawed system for a long time, because you can be 21 [years old] and be a first-round pick out of college here [in the United States].

"When was the last time that anyone that was 21 was signed out of [the Dominican Republic] that you knew was 21? It's a system that in the past has forced those kids to do some of that stuff.

*Real name Roberto Hernandez Heredia

Signed RHP Dan Wheeler to a Minor-League Contract; Invited him to Spring Training

The Indians added yet another NRI to their already crowded list by signing Dan Wheeler to a minor-league deal. Wheeler pitched with the Red Sox last season, missing the last three weeks of the season with a right forearm injury. The arm injury, along with a poor (for a setup man) season both contributed to him having to take a minor-league deal. Wheeler immediately becomes a frontrunner for the open bullpen spot; in his second stint with Tampa Bay, he averaged 68 appearances from 2008-2010, and posted a .975 WHIP. If he's healthy, he should make the team.