Detroit Tigers News: Stephen Strasburg opts out, and more offseason rumors

A World Series parade is in the books, the awards season has officially begun with the announcement of the 2019 Gold Glove winners, and options are beginning to be exercised and declined league-wide.

The offseason is underway. Let’s see how it might affect your Detroit Tigers.

Offseason outlook

MLB Trade Rumors takes a poke at what the offseason for Detroit might look like. They begin by noting who is guaranteed money, who is arbitration eligible, and who the free agents are. They then comment on what a noticeable bust the Tigers’ free agent moves of last offseason turned out to be. There is “some legitimately interesting talent” on the farm, so I suppose that’s a good thing, but in the same breath it is pointed out that some of that talent is pushing to the MLB level.

This should mean that the Tigers want to make more of an impact toward improving this offseason. The folks at MLB Trade Rumors seem optimistic that general manager Al Avila has nothing holding him back and that the team has money to spend — an optimism that few others share. One plus? Stability in the rotation, with room for a Michael Wacha or Alex Wood type addition. Elsewhere on the field, they look to veteran presence and performance and toss out names like Didi Gregorious, Jonathon Schoop, and Yasiel Puig. This sounds like more fun than I would expect to have this winter.

One free agent to rule them all re-sign

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com has compiled a list of one free agent every club could re-sign. The Tigers were pegged with shortstop Jordy Mercer. Feinsand makes a point of mentioning that Mercer played four different positions last year, which might point to more of a back-up/utility type role if Detroit were to decide to bring him back.

Strasburg opts out

The biggest move of the weekend? That World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg has chosen to opt out of his remaining contract. That’s a big fish suddenly on the market. While the Nationals have stated their intentions to immediately enter into contract discussions with Strasburg, it appears that the San Diego Padres have their eyes on the prized hurler. The Padres are a team on the rise, and although they may need to do some creative things to clear contract space, they would love to bring Strasburg back to San Diego, where he was born and raised.

Others hitting the market

The are a few other players of note that are going to be available in the upcoming offseason, like Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal. I wouldn’t expect to see either of them landing in a Tigers uniform, though. If we’re looking at the kind of signings that the Tigers made last offseason, I would keep my eyes on Matt Adams or Jedd Gyorko as more likely possibilities. Adams plays first base, and at his best is a good hitter against righties, while Gyorko has some infield versatility and isn’t too far removed from productive playing years.

Around the horn

Crooked numbers on keeping baseball weird. Six observations from Team USA training camp. These seven teams will define the offseason (The Tigers are not one of them). The New York Mets find themselves a new manager in Carlos Beltran. Baseball has its problems, but ratings aren’t one of them.

Baseball is awesome

The District of Columbia hosted the World Series parade for their hometown Washington Nationals over the weekend. Please observe Max Scherzer working on the only mechanics he will need over the next week or so.