It won’t be long before the Detroit Tigers gather for the 2021 edition of Spring Training in Lakeland, Fl.
And while new manager A.J. Hinch is prepared for the team to move forward as is, “in a perfect world” they’d be able to add another player – specifically, a catcher.
The team already has Grayson Greiner and Jake Rogers as well as veteran backups Eric Haase and Dustin Garneau. However, any additional moves would be up to GM Al Avila.
“Ideally we would add to our mix and put some pressure on guys to make our team,” he said. “In a perfect world, there’s still a guy out there that can help us, but whether the market produces that, whether that’s how we choose to spend our dollars, is obviously up to (general manager Al Avila).”
For Hinch, there wouldn’t be anything wrong with some “versatility” in order to give a push to the players already on the roster.
“You’ve seen us go out and sign a couple players. We’ve had more dialogue than gets reported, and good job by the Tigers keeping that mum. We can only do so much. You’ve got to have a partner on the other side that wants to sign and be here for the opportunities that we have,” Hinch said.
“I’m not afraid of the young players, I’m not afraid of their growth. We saw some young players step forward last year. We’re going to see somebody else surprise us this year. I do think there are going to be deals at the end of this free agency or into spring training that can potentially make us better. Al and the group are working tirelessly to try to figure it out. Whether we add one or two, three, four — I don’t know how many players that we have the ability to add, but it will be for a specific reason to make our team better, to give us a little bit more versatility around our team and ultimately to push some of those young guys.”
As it happens, one available free agent catcher is former Tiger Alex Avila, the son of Al.
– – Quotes via Evan Woodbery of MLive Link – –
