The Detroit Tigers have made it known over the past year that they’re willing to go out and try to land a star infielder on the left side of the diamond. The most obvious answer to the Tigers’ question would be to go out and add Alex Bregman, whom A.J. Hinch used to coach with the Houston Astros.
The question for the Tigers, unfortunately, as it has been for them many times throughout much of the past decade, is whether they’re willing to spend the money it’ll take to land a player like Bregman.
Factor that in with some believing that he could be overpaid, including Robert Murray, an MLB insider for FanSided, and things could get tricky for Detroit.
Could Tigers miss out on offseason target?
If the organization isn’t willing to hand out the type of money that will be required to land Bregman, they could be in a challenging position.
“Bregman has had a great season in Boston. He’s loved by his teammates and by everyone within the organization. In 104 games, he’s hitting .278/.360/.475 with 17 home runs and 59 RBI. He’s going to have a TON of teams after him this winter, the Red Sox included, and I ultimately expect him to stay in Boston.
“But a player of Bregman’s caliber and his performance in a big city is going to put increased eyeballs on him,” he wrote.
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Murray then went on to quote Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations.
“If you’re always rational about every free agent, you will finish third on every free agent.”
There are also reasons to believe that the Tigers could adopt a different approach, with some of their youngsters emerging in the near future. Considering they could lose Tarik Skubal in the future, however, it might be better to go all in now and try to win when winning is possible.
