Mike Ilitch is willing to spend whatever it takes for the Detroit Tigers to win the World Series.

"It's all I think about," Ilitch said.

The owner revealed in a news conference announcing Detroit's signing of Jordan Zimmermann that general manager Al Avila has the green light to spend at will during free agency.

"I think I proved that," Ilitch said. "I've been in baseball for a lot of years. I didn't care about spending money. They get the players, and I spend, and I don't worry about it because they have good judgment."

Ilitch admitted he'd be open to crossing the luxury tax threshold if the payroll continued to escalate and the market required such a commitment.

"Well, I'm supposed to be a good boy and not go over it, but again, if I'm gonna get certain players that can help us a lot, I'm going to go over it," he said before conceding this strategy was frowned upon. "Oops, I shouldn't have said that."