Detroit had a great commercial campaign in 2005 that asked fans "Who's Your Tiger?"

Now I finally can answer that question. Who's my Tiger? One Mr. Sean Casey. The Globe and Herald are both reporting Sean has agreed to a one-year contract with the Sox for $800,000, which will be officially announced once he passes a physical. That means Youk and Lowell will have a solid backup when they need to take a day off (Sean will always play 1st, and Youk could switch to 3rd to cover Mike)-- and he can even step in for Big Papi on occasion as well.

Sean is a gamer- and is known for being one of the classiest guys in the game and a great clubhouse asset. Just last year he was voted the friendliest guy in baseball by major league baseball players by a staggering margin, the vote wasn't even close. It sounds sort of hokey, except the ballplayers took their vote very seriously-- and no one was allowed to vote for a teammate (so that means everyone respects him, not just his fellow Tigers). He also gives a ton of his time and money to charity, and he and Sox fan Conan O'Brien even co-founded a charity together based out of Lawrence, MA.

Also, this guy below? Will fit in perfectly with our team.

Papelbon can always use some assistance with clubhouse celebrations.

EDIT: To add a link and quotes from a Jayson Stark story about various unemployed ballplayers who have had a hard time this offseason trying to get placed:

We've often observed that it's amazing how far away spring training seems on Dec. 31 -- and how close it seems on Jan. 1. But when you flip that calendar to February and you still don't have a job, let's just say the old nervous system can tend to act up.

Consider the example of another fellow who didn't have a team to call his own until Friday -- The Mayor himself, Sean Casey. On Friday morning, Casey agreed to a one-year, $700,000 deal with the Red Sox. But as late as Thursday afternoon, he was as frazzled as a relentlessly upbeat guy like him ever gets.

"In December, when I didn't have a job, I thought, 'Hey, that's all right. It's December,'" Casey said. "I figured by the beginning of January, we'd get something done. But then you look up and it's almost February. I talked to my agent the other day. He said, 'Just be patient.' I said, 'How much more patience do I need to have?'"

Why, for instance, would a 33-year-old, .301 lifetime hitter like Casey have found himself jobless all the way into February? True, he only hit 4 home runs last year. But after a slow start, he did basically what he always has done for a decade-- get his hits.

After May 1, Casey's stat line looked like this: .317 avg./.372 on-base/.424 slugging. Compare that to, say, J.D. Drew in the same period (.269/.373/.429). Or Jeff Francoeur (.290/.332/.426). Or Delmon Young (.294/.323/.410).

All those guys managed to stay employed. But of course, they were younger. Or under contract already. But Casey picked a rough winter to be a free agent- a winter full of suggestions like, "If you played another position besides just first base..."

"If I played some outfield or a little third base, I'd have signed two months ago," the Mayor told Rumblings the other day.

"Here's an idea," we told him. "Do you have a catcher's mask?"

"I could do that," he said. "I could catch. But my career would be over in about four innings."

Luckily for him, it never came to that. Luckily for him, the Red Sox finally figured out he was exactly the kind of supplemental left-handed bat they needed.