Detroit Tigers Links

Detroit Tigers Links wants it hot and heavy

Oh yeah, send me all those trade rumors.

By Patrick Whelan@PdiddyWay Nov 11, 2016, 7:10am EST

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim v Detroit Tigers

Bow chicka wow wow

This was from Wednesday, and it’s terrific.

Tigers general manager Al Avila has talked with "several" teams at the GM meetings, but nothing "hot and heavy," he said.
— anthony fenech (@anthonyfenech) November 9, 2016

Pretty soon after this quote, news came that the Miguel Cabrera to the Astros rumor was more smoke than fire.

But, just one day later, we have a trade “brewing” between the Dodgers and Tigers involving Justin Verlander. This couldn’t make more sense, but I urge everyone not to overreact. These stories are going to continue to come throughout the offseason with a host of players sure to be mentioned. Already, Ian Kinsler, Anibal Sanchez, and Mike Pelfrey (!) have been mentioned. The rumors will persist. It’s going to be a long winter, hold on to your butts.

I don’t know man, just blow it up.

The Chicago White Sox have been mired in mediocrity for what seems like a decade now, utilizing quick fixes and overpays to try and boost a below average team to the playoffs. Instead, they usually end the season with a sub-.500 record. It sounds like the days of stopgaps are over.

“We’ve always been focused on putting ourselves in the best position to win,” Hahn said. “At the same time, I think we’re veering away from the standpoint of looking for stopgaps. A lot of what we did in the last few years had been trying to enhance the short-term potential of the club to put ourselves in a position to win immediately. I feel the approach at this point is focusing on longer-term benefits. It doesn’t mean we won’t necessarily be in a good position in 2017. It means that our targets and whatever we’re hoping to accomplish have a little more longer-term fits in nature.”

As HardballTalk’s Craig Calcaterra points out, that is a nice way of saying, let’s bottom this thing out and start over:

That’s a polite, leverage-preserving way of saying “everything must go.” With “everything” likely including Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Jose Abreu, Todd Frazier, Adam Eaton, and Melky Cabrera.

After watching the Cubs very successfully bottom out and re-emerge as a juggernaut over the last five years, I’m not shocked in the change of tactics. The White Sox fanbase has been begging for this for years.

It will be an interesting year in the AL Central with Minnesota struggling, the White Sox selling, and the Tigers cutting costs. ESPN has the burning question for each team moving forward, but congrats in advance to Cleveland on their 2017 AL Central crown.