The Tigers signed Dontrelle Willis to a 3-year extension today before he ever even set foot on the mound for Detroit. In fact, as he was being interviewed he was getting the tour of Comerica Park:

Willis took a tour of the ballpark, including the home clubhouse. After he walked down the tunnel to the dugout, he saw his image — and jersey No. 21 — on the expansive leftfield scoreboard.

“Deion Sanders,” Willis said. “I knew I couldn’t get 35 (like in Florida) because of the No-Hitter Man (Justin Verlander). And I respect that. He’s the horse. He’s done great things.

Correct, Dontrelle, there was no chance of getting 35 here. I do wonder if the Tigers will save #4 now that Cameron Maybin is gone.. Anyway, back to the topic at hand!

This signing was not a surprise as Dombrowski was open that the Tigers planned to immediately start talking extensions with both Willis and Cabrera after their trade. Couple this with Nate Robertson looking to be signed up long term, which Detroit needs to do unless they want to go after some more big names on the ‘09 free agent market, and Detroit could have two more major signings this off season.

As of right now the Tiger starting rotation into the future look like this:

The talent in that list, realized and potential, has got to make any fan pretty excited for the years to come. There are still many questions with this starting rotation; will Bonderman bounce back? will Willis return to his ‘05 form? Either way, right now this is a good signing and for reasonable amounts of money.

Another solid move by Dave Dombrowski.