Tigers predicted to fix deadline mistakes by signing All-Star for $128 million originally appeared on The Sporting News
It’s only fair to question what the Detroit Tigers were thinking during the trade deadline. For a team with a clear opportunity to win a World Series, the Tigers just simply didn’t do enough.
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Whether that falls on Scott Harris or the ownership is one question, but the Tigers needed to be better, and they simply weren’t. It’ll be interesting to see how the rest of the year plays out and what they do in the offseason, but there are now more questions about the Tigers than there were over the past few months.
That can change in the offseason, but it has to come by spending money.
If the Tigers aren’t willing to give the big bucks out, they shouldn’t expect much to change. Players are looking to get paid more than ever, and the Tigers have the money to do so.
Remember now, only about a decade or so ago, this team had one of the highest payrolls in baseball.
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If they want to get back to those ways this winter, they need to be taking a look at Alex Bregman of the Boston Red Sox, and Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report expects that to be the case. He predicted that the Tigers would sign Bregman to a lucrative deal in the offseason, spanning over four years for $128 million.
“Then again, with Marcelo Mayer now in the mix and Trevor Story not going anywhere in the next few years, Boston might be reluctant enough to increase its investment to allow somewhere else to swoop in.
“And if Bregman does change teams, Detroit might be the best bet. To some extent, it hinges on if/when/why the Tigers get bounced this October. However, there’s still the connection with Tigers manager AJ Hinch that made everyone believe the Tigers had a shot at signing him this past winter, and third base has been one of Detroit’s weakest spots all season,” he wrote.
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Prior to dealing with an injury in the early stages of the campaign that kept him out for a few months, Bregman was one of the better players in baseball. He has some questions to answer as he returns from that injury, but he knows that he’s in a great position to get paid during the offseason, as he’s once again the best third baseman on the market.
His free agency didn’t go as planned last year, but that could very well change this time around.