No deal for Tigers, but 'winter is not over,' Avila says
National Harbor, Md. — It wasn’t for a lack of trying, but general manager Al Avila said Wednesday night it was most likely the Tigers were going to leave the Winter Meetings without making a deal.
“I can’t say it’s frustrating or disappointing,” he said. “We still have a pretty good team moving forward in 2017. In that sense, it’s positive. But the market is what it is. You can’t do anything about that.”
And the market was decidedly unfriendly to the Tigers’ mission — at least to this point. As evidenced by the deals pulled off by the Chicago White Sox — trading Chris Sale and Adam Eaton for seven top prospects, four from the Red Sox and three from the Nationals.
While the Tigers were listening to offers on their veteran players with hefty contracts — Ian Kinsler, J.D. Martinez, Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and Justin Upton — the market was more conducive to moderately priced players who are still under team control.
“Look at the Adam Eaton trade,” Avila said. “The Nationals get five years of control at a pretty good price. That’s value. Years of control at a low price is value. That’s what teams value. Unfortunately, we don’t have too many of those players.”
The ones they do have — Michael Fulmer, Daniel Norris, Matt Boyd, James McCann, Nick Castellanos, etc. — are the cornerstones of their future and weren’t made available.
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But, as Avila pointed out, there is no deadline to make offseason deals. The Winter Meetings isn’t the endpoint of teams' roster maneuvers.
“I was clear that nothing may happen this winter,” Avila said. “I had a sneaky suspicion that this could happen — and it has. But the winter is not over. Other things could still happen down the road. It might be later in the winter, during spring training or later in the summer.”
As a reminder, he pointed out that the club signed Upton in January last year. He added that because so many quality free agents were still on the market, there could be an unusually high number of January and February deals this offseason.
“If there is one positive, it’s that we do have a good team going into the season,” Avila said. “If we are patient and prudent and we don’t panic, things will fall into place as time allows. It’s all timing and opportunity. You cannot force the issue.”
The Tigers are still approximately $20 million over the luxury tax threshold.
“We haven’t had orders from management saying we had to get under it no matter what,” Avila said. “I mean, tomorrow I could trade a couple guys and get lower-level prospects that would be far away (from playing in the big leagues), but that hasn’t happened.”
There isn’t any urgency to do that now. The tax is computed and assessed based on the payroll at the end of the season.
“There are still a lot of free agents to be signed, and good ones,” Avila said. “There are still a lot of hitters out there and there are other teams now (like the Diamondbacks) who are discussing moving some of their players.
“But right now, the teams who have the youngest players and the least expensive players, players with the most control, they’re the ones getting back the most in return,” Avila said.
Teams did inquire about J.D. Martinez, especially early on. The Mets at one point offered young outfielder Michael Conforto, a trade Avila most likely would have pulled the trigger on. But they quickly took Conforto off the table.
The Dodgers showed some interest in Kinsler early, but Avila said Wednesday the Kinsler market had “dried up.” Avila had said as early as Monday that he didn't expect Verlander or Cabrera to be traded.
Left-handed reliever Justin Wilson seemed to draw the most interest but Avila said he never got the deal he was looking for.
The Tigers, though, may not go home completely empty-handed. There is a good chance they will make a selection in the Rule 5 draft Thursday morning. They have the 20th pick.
Twitter @cmccosky