Tigers listened to offers on Jose Iglesias

National Harbor, Md. — Tigers general manager Al Avila admitted he was intrigued.

He expected teams to call about J.D. Martinez, Ian Kinsler and his other veteran players; not so much serious talk about shortstop Jose Iglesias.

Iglesias, who is expected to make a little more than $2 million next season and is under team control for two more years, is considered one of the team’s building blocks for the future. He’s the type of player Avila has let teams know he’s not looking to trade.

And yet.

“There has been some interest in him and we’ve listened,” Avila said. “I don’t know how much legs it has, but it’s interesting enough. It has a possibility. But again, he's a good shortstop. We like him and he’s still a low-cost guy with two more years of control.”

If Iglesias were dealt, Dixon Machado would get an opportunity to be the everyday shortstop, Avila said. Machado is out of minor-league options, so if he didn’t make the club in the spring, he would be waived.

On Tuesday, manager Brad Ausmus had praised Iglesias’ maturity last season.

“One thing I was most impressed with Iggy this year is, he took a little bit of the glitz out of his game,” he said. “He became a little more workmanlike at shortstop. Got his feet set, made good throws, and he was a better shortstop as a result.

“He kind of looks at himself as an entertainer, and he is, and he's got tremendous hands and feet, but there's that line — and we talked to him about it — there's that line of making a good play look easy, and not making the easy play look difficult.”

No deal for Tigers, but 'winter is not over,' Avila says

Around the horn

Avila said Double A pitcher Paul Voelker got a lot of attention from teams calling about possible trades. “Not as a main piece, but as a guy who could help,” he said. Voelker, who pitched at Erie last season, had a 13⅔ strikeouts per nine innings rate.

… Former Tigers lefty Joe Mantiply, who the Tigers lopped off their 40-man roster after the season, signed with the Yankees.

Twitter @cmccosky