(Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Magglio Ordonez provided easily the best baseball experience in the past 24 years for Detroit Tigers' fans. The walk-off home run he hit to win the 2006 ALCS and propel the Tigers into the World Series set off a love fest in Comerica Park. It brought tears to the eyes of any fan that saw it.

In 2005, he signed a mega-deal to play for the Tigers, when no one wanted to play here, and when no one wanted to pay him.

Ordonez was coming off an experimental knee surgery. One that he had to have performed in Germany, because no American doctor would do it, while the Tigers were just one season removed from the worst record in American League history.

Sadly, the whirlwind romance between Maggs and the Tigers appears to be nearing its end.

Just two years removed from his batting title in 2007, Ordonez has fallen flat. In 2007, he hit .363 with a league leading 54 doubles and an OPS of 1.029. But the numbers declined last season and then the bottom fell out this year.

Entering play today, Magglio is hitting a mere .260, the lowest of his career. He is carrying an OPS of only .663, again the lowest of his career. Ordonez has managed only three home runs and nine doubles in 246 at bats.

The former extra-base hit machine is now only able to loop soft singles to right, no longer driving the ball to the gaps as he did so often before.

There are other alarming numbers as well. Ordonez has grounded into 13 double plays already this year. His defense in right field has been well below league average, and his strikeouts are up, fanning in 16 percent of his at bats, easily the highest rate of his career.

Perhaps the most alarming number, however, is 18. As in the $18 million Magglio is set to earn next season if he reaches a certain games played milestones this year.

The Tigers simply cannot afford to allow his option to vest.

When the contract with Ordonez was signed prior to the 2005 season, Detroit knew they would have to overpay to acquire the superstar outfielder, and overpay they did.

To this point, Ordonez has been worth every penny he has received. But the "outs" that were written into the deal regarding the vesting options for 2010 and 2011 were put there to protect the team from having to overpay for an aging veteran, whose health or production might not warrant that kind of money.

When Ordonez was removed from the lineup for six games last month, his agent, Scott Boras, publicly basted the Tigers for the move. It was Boras' contention that Ordonez performance did not warrant the perceived benching.

He stated that the replacements Detroit had used were not an upgrade to Ordonez. He later also said that his comments had nothing to do with next season's option on Ordonez's contract. I suspect that Boras was wrong on all accounts.

Lets' start with the contract. The Tigers have already committed to over $84 million in player salaries for next season, not including the $18 million that Ordonez could earn.

Of that total, $47.5 million is committed to DH Carlos Guillen, and pitchers Nate Robertson, Dontrelle Willis, and Jeremy Bonderman. Considering what the four players listed above have contributed to this year's team (not much), there is little reason to suspect the Tigers will get favorable returns on any of those deals.

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