BY JOHN LOWE FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER Dombrowski: Coke will get a chance to start Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski said Tuesday that newcomer Phil Coke "will have a chance to compete" for the open spot in the rotation. Coke hasn't started in his two big-league seasons, both with the Yankees. He started often in the minors. Coke would fill the Tigers' vacancy for a left-handed starter. A left-hander would be a desirable commodity for the Tigers because Comerica Park -- with its expansive left-centerfield -- is tailored for a lefty facing right-handed batters (think Kenny Rogers). Dombrowski said he envisions right-hander Jeremy Bonderman, who had a lost year in 2009 after shoulder surgery, taking the fourth spot in the rotation behind Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer. Coke, 27, arrived in the three-way trade in which the Tigers gave up Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson this off-season. If Coke joins the rotation, the Tigers will still have plenty of left-handed relievers: incumbents Bobby Seay, Fu-Te Ni and Nate Robertson and newcomers Daniel Schlereth (who arrived from Arizona in the trade) and Brad Thomas, a free agent who pitched the past two seasons in Korea. Dombrowski also said first baseman Miguel Cabrera is taking the steps Dombrowski asked him to take in the off-season. He declined to say whether Cabrera had undergone treatment for alcohol abuse. On the morning of the second-to-last scheduled game of last season, police determined that Cabrera was drunk at three times the legal driving limit after his wife called 911 because of a domestic dispute. Cabrera has yet to speak publicly about his off-season. If he chooses, he can do so at the outset of the Tigers' two-day caravan Thursday. SIGNED UP: Three Tigers eligible for salary arbitration signed one-year deals: Seay ($2.475 million), right-handed reliever Zach Miner ($950,000) and catcher Gerald Laird ($3.95 million). In Dombrowski's seven previous off-seasons with the Tigers, they never have had an arbitration case go to a hearing; all have been settled beforehand. Dombrowski gives vice president and baseball legal counsel John Westhoff ample credit for that streak. "John does a very good job in negotiations," he said Tuesday. "He understands the give-and-take, and he's well prepared. From an organizational perspective, we'd rather settle the situation ourselves than have a third party do it." http://is.gd/6EqCT --

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