Whitecaps banquet

Alan Trammell shares a laugh with fans during the 2015 Whitecaps Winter Baseball banquet at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Mich., Wednesday, January 21, 2015. (Joel Bissell | MLive.com)

(Joel Bissell | MLive.com)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Alan Trammell is glad to be back with the Detroit Tigers after a 10-year absence, and he hopes his stay is a long one.

“The old English D, that’s the way it should be,” Trammell said of being back with the organization.

The veteran shortstop, who spent his entire 20-year playing career with the Tigers, is back with the organization as special assistant to general manager Dave Dombrowski.

Trammell, in attendance at the West Michigan Whitecaps Winter Banquet on Wednesday, will assist in on-field duties at both the major league and minor league levels, be involved in all personnel meetings, travel throughout the minor league system and participate in community relations.

"I don't look at myself as a front office guy; I'm going to be a jack-of-all trades," said Trammell, who was named to the position Nov. 3. "I will be in uniform (for spring training) but, in transition, I won't be on the field per se, but I'm OK with that. I always just want to be a team guy.

“My name is synonymous with the Tigers, as it should be and this is home for me. The way it ended for Kirk (Gibson) and I in Arizona (when they were fired) is not what how you want it, but that’s part of the deal.”

Trammell, 56, who was bench coach for Gibson for four seasons with the Diamondbacks, said he was contacted after the season by Tigers manager Brad Ausmus. The two previously played and coached together, and were former neighbors in Del Mar, Calif. Trammell considers him a close friend.

“At the end of the conversation, he asked me if I would consider it,’ Trammell said. “He knew I was looking for something – I had my name out there for a few positions – and I started thinking about it. He said he had talked to Dave (Dombrowski) about it; I talked to my wife about it and it became really a no brainer.”

Alan Trammell waves to fans in his last season with the Tigers in 1996.

Dombrowksi told the banquet crowd that "one of the highlights of my winter time was the day that Alan Trammell accepted to come back to the organization. He is a Tiger."

Trammell will head to spring training in Lakeland, Fla. with the position players on Feb. 24 and “help out wherever Brad needs me to be,” he said. Trammell also expects to work with infield coach Omar Visquel.

Obviously, watching shortstop Jose Iglesias will be one priority.

“I think everyone is going to have to wait a bit before we see (how healthy he is) how it is from all the movements and pounding of an everyday shortstop,” Trammell said of Iglesias, who sat out last season with a shin fracture. “You can’t duplicate that in training. It will be monitored by trainers, certainly, but while I’ve never met the young man yet, he will have to be truthful about how he is feeling.”

Trammell, manager of the Tigers from 2003-05 and the club’s hitting coach in 1999, also got a previous dose as a special assistant with the organization. Shortly after he retired in 1996, he was involved with the winter meetings and baseball draft with then-GM Randy Smith.

“I know the protocol and how this works,” Trammell said. “I just want to be a team player, and I’m not looking to do anything else at this point in my life. I don’t want to be bouncing around. I envision myself for doing this for quite a while.”

2015 Whitecaps Winter Baseball Banquet 19 Gallery: 2015 Whitecaps Winter Baseball Banquet

Pete Wallner covers sports for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at pwallner@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.