Posted by Jeff Lubbers on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 12:57 am

As he was slugging his way to .284 by May 7, the question that was merely a whisper before the season was suddenly being asked by many: what would the Tigers do with Magglio Ordoñez?

Ordoñez’s contract, signed before the 2005 season, contains a guaranteed option of $18 million in 2010 if he makes 135 starts or 540 plate appearances in 2009. So far in 2009 he has made 50 starts and 219 plate appearances through the team’s first 55 games, meaning he is well on his way to triggering the 2010 guaranteed option. Additionally he puts himself in a position to trigger his contract’s 2011 $12 million guaranteed option if he makes 270 starts or 1,080 plate appearances in 2009-2010.

Since May 8 Ordoñez has performed more respectfully than his awful April, slashing .345/.418/.437, although though his overall slugging percentage remains lower than his on-base percentage. Given that he is two seasons removed from posting the highest number of total bases for the Detroit Tigers since before World War II, this power outage is nothing short of shocking, and the local press is calling for the team to move on without him.

What this somewhat cumbersome table shows is a list of American League outfielders in the past 20 years who have posted a respectable on-base percentage of .350 or higher (Ordoñez is currently at .362) sorted by the lowest slugging percentage (Ordoñez is currently at .354). While Ordoñez is not at the top of the list (he’s #20), his career slugging percentage (.514) is 89 points higher than everyone above him. In short this list is filled with light-hitting and mostly speedy outfielders, of which Ordoñez does not fit the bill.

While the season isn’t over yet and Ordoñez will likely raise his slugging percentage by the end of the year, it’s also June and the refrain “it’s early” has become meaningless. If Ordoñez plays in every game the rest of the season he would need to slug .585 in the team’s last 107 games to match his career total of .514, a mere 230 points higher than he’s done so far this year.

Given that Ordoñez’s production has clearly dropped, what are the Tigers to do?

In a word, nothing. By continuing to give him playing time, even despite the emergence of several young Tigers’ players, the Tigers have clearly made the decision to give Ordoñez the opportunity to rack of the playing time necessary to keep him under contract in Detroit for at least another year, and maybe two. Of the five games Ordoñez has missed this year four of them were to be with his wife during surgery, a situation that Ordoñez recently admitted could be affecting his focus this year.

Additionally, the Tigers may not have much choice in the matter. As rumors swirl of Tom Glavine possibly filing a grievance against his former team for releasing him solely for financial reasons, the Tigers likely recognize that an abandonment of Ordoñez would be no less obviously tied to the bottom line than the Braves’ release of Glavine.

While it may be easy to say the Tigers should not have included the performance-based options in the contract, they may not have signed Ordoñez without them. And even if they feel that releasing Ordoñez and reaching a possible settlement would be cheaper than paying him $30 million, it would likely be only a short term gain and would be detrimental to the team down the road. Who would want to sign with the Tigers if they don’t honor the spirit of free agent contracts?

The bottom line is that teams take a chance when including performance-based incentives. Ordoñez is not the only player trying to trigger a guaranteed option in future years, although he may have more at stake than any other player. With a big tip of the cap to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the following players are also looking to guarantee future paydays (not a complete list):

Kerry Wood (Cleveland) – 2011 $11 million option guaranteed with 55 games finished in 2009 or 2010 (20 GF so far in 2009).

Luis Vizcaino (Cleveland) – 2010 $4 million option guaranteed with 68 games in 2009 (11 games so far in 2009)

Dmitri Young (Washington) – 2010 $6 million option guaranteed with 500 plate appearances in 2009 or 900 plate appearances in 2009-10 (no appearances in 2009)

Freddy Sanchez (Pittsburgh) – 2010 $8 million option guaranteed with 635 plate appearances in 2009 or 600 plate appearances and an All Star selection (238 plate appearances so far in 2009 and an outside shot at an All Star selection, though Zach Duke will likely be the lone Pittsburgh representative)