ANAHEIM -- One Tigers official summarized the Winter Meetings succinctly: "Two words: Room service." Detroit's front office headed west a week ago hailed as one of the most aggressive teams on the market, having been linked in reports to many of the major free agents. After watching a handful of players in whom they had interest sign elsewhere and remaking their plan of attack, they return home with the same roster they had when they came and not knowing how much it'll change by Spring Training. They're still in a better situation than they were last year, when Miguel Tejada wouldn't listen to the Tigers' overtures and they signed some free agents simply to send a message. But results-wise, they come out of here disappointed. "We're going after a different quality of player than we did last year," president/general manager Dave Dombrowski said. "We're going at some of the upper echelon free agent players. They have a lot of choices, and they can be very particular in their selection process. Last year, there were some circumstances in which we did not even participate. We didn't get turned down because we just didn't have a chance. "So now you're in a position where you're dealing with some very good players that a lot of clubs have interest in. You can be the runner-up every time, but you don't get the player. And I think that's happened a few times, but it doesn't really make you feel any better because you want the player." Dombrowski believes the calendar is another factor at play. Perhaps because super-agent Scott Boras has a tried and true tactic of waiting out the market, or perhaps because of next week's non-tender deadline -- when several other players will become free agents because their current teams don't offer them contracts, Dombrowski sees the free-agent market going later and later. He knows from experience, since his pursuit of Ivan Rodriguez last offseason lasted until the end of January. He's already advised several club officials they could be working between Christmas and New Year's Day, and it's likely the free agent pursuit will go into January. --

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