DETROIT -- Detroit Tigers general manager Randy Smith does not intend to let slugger Juan Gonzalez keep the team on hold while deciding his future.

	Gonzalez

Gonzalez is enduring a disappointing season with the Tigers after joining the club in a nine-player deal with Texas last fall.

The outfielder turned down a multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal from the Tigers in the spring and also nixed a trade with the Yankees in June because New York would only offer him a one-year deal -- worth $12.5 million.

If the Tigers wait indefinitely for Gonzalez to re-sign, they might lose their chance to replace him in the free agent or trade market.

"Maybe we'll say, 'We've got to have an answer right now. We have to move on,' " Smith was quoted as saying in the Detroit Free Press on Tuesday. "If we haven't gotten a response and we get a commitment from someone else, we say, 'I'm sorry.'

"We'd like to have Juan back. We have to operate and pursue things, and hope he does come back. If he doesn't, we hope to do other things. We can't just wait for an answer."

Smith said he didn't know if the Tigers would make Gonzalez an offer in the six-week interim between the end of the season and his eligibility for the open market.

Cleveland right fielder Manny Ramirez, also due to become a free agent after this season, could become a prime Tigers choice as Gonzalez's replacement, the Free Press reported.