No matter how you frame it, the 2016 season was a failure for the Detroit Tigers after they finished 86-75, 8.0 GB the Cleveland Indians in the American League Central and 2.5 GB in the Wild Card race. It was the second straight season in which the Tigers failed to make the playoffs and it seemed like drastic changes would be made prior to the 2017 season.
Many thought those changes would begin with the team cutting ties with manager Brad Ausmus, but instead, the Tigers announced just days after the conclusion of the regular season that they would use the club option to bring him back for 2017.
The #Tigers today announced that they have exercised the 2017 club option on the contract of manager Brad Ausmus. pic.twitter.com/ZTVaxFarl1
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) October 5, 2016
In mid-October, Tigers general manager Al Avila announced: “Changes are coming.”
It seemed as if the Tigers upper management and maybe even owner Mike Ilitch himself had decided the shedding of large contracts was the move to make and having one of the top payrolls in baseball was a thing of the past, at least for Detroit. The feel around town was that the Tigers were willing to listen to offers for just about anyone on their roster, including stars like Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, and Ian Kinsler.
A couple of weeks later, Avila started off what we thought would be a trading spree when he dealt starting center fielder, Cameron Maybin to the Los Angeles Angels for minor-league pitcher Victor Alcantara. By making the move, Detroit was able to cut the $9 million they would have paid Maybin for the 2017 season.
Then things started to get very real when the rumors began surfacing that the Tigers had been in talks with the Dodgers about Verlander and Kinsler. It was just a matter of time before the Tigers would part ways with two of the most popular players in Detroit.
But, neither of those moves ever happened.
Now, reports have surfaced that the Tigers cutting of payroll has been put on hold, at least for the time being. MLB.com columnist John Paul Morosi reported on Wednesday that sources have indicated to him that the Tigers were “not close on any significant trades” at this time. Morosi added that the though Avila did listen to offers for some of the Tigers stars, he was never “ordered” by ownership to cut payroll.
Assuming nothing goes down between now and Spring Training, the Tigers are likely to begin the 2017 season with nearly the same roster they finished 2016 with. That being said, if Detroit falls behind in the standings, you can bet your bottom dollar the trade talks will start up once again.
