Detroit Tigers: What the Cameron Maybin Trade Means for 2017
By Matt Snyder
The Detroit Tigers announced the trade of Cameron Maybin on Thursday night. Here’s what the move might mean for the 2017 season.
The Detroit Tigers‘ trade of Cameron Maybin wasn’t altogether surprising. He appeared to be a top candidate to exit the club after general manager Al Avila told the media that they’d be looking to cut payroll ahead of the 2017 season.
Here are a few things we can glean from the trade.
The Tigers are Serious About Cutting Payroll
We’ve heard members of the front office talk about the team’s inability to continue to take on salary in the past, but, when push has come to shove, Mike Ilitch had always come up with the extra funds to sign that big-name free agent.
That gravy train appears to have officially ended. There’s no saying for sure until the Tigers actually finalize next year’s opening day roster, but this is the first indication. The Tigers jettisoned Maybin, who had a very reasonable $9 million team option for 2017, for very little return and he was their only viable everyday center field option on the 40-man roster.
General managers usually don’t intentionally create massive holes on the field unless they (1) have another plan to fill it or (2) simply needed to get rid of the player.
Center Field is Wide Open
Avila created that massive hole in center field an has indicated that he’s not in a big hurry to fill it. In a press release sent out by the team, Avila said that they’ll hold a wide open competition in the spring.
"“We will weigh our options as far as center field is concerned for next season,” says the GM. “There will be a wide open competition starting in the spring and we’ll see how it plays out.”"
The Tigers have five players on their 40-man roster who saw time in center field last season: Andrew Romine, Tyler Collins, Justin Upton, JaCoby Jones, and Anthony Gose.
Romine graded out well enough defensively, but he doesn’t hit very well and also carries value as a utility infielder. Neither Collins nor Upton could field the position well enough to run out there every single day. Jones has promise but showed he’s not ready to hit major league pitching with consistency. Gose never could rebound after a demotion to the minor leagues following a slow start to the year.
My guess is that they’re hoping for Gose to rebound back to some form of usability and perhaps counting on Jones to be playable in a platoon role. This assuming that they don’t pursue a veteran option that would cost even some small number of millions of dollars.
More Trades are Probably Coming
This was just step one in the payroll reduction plan. Avila, and the rest of the Tigers’ front office, will likely be working all offseason to move a few more contracts and build farm system depth as the organization positions itself for the future.
If the Tigers really intend to reduce their salary obligations by $20-30 million, they’ve only just begun. With arbitration raises due to Nick Castellanos, Jose Iglesias, and Justin Wilson (among others), the Tigers haven’t really shave many (or even any!) dollars from 2017 compared to 2016.
Even moving a star player like J.D. Martinez would only save the Tigers a bit more than $11 million for next season, but he’d bring back a rather nice prospect haul due to the sizable amount of surplus value in his deal.
Someone like Victor Martinez, on the other hand, might be able to be moved but the Tigers would not receive much of value in return. There’s a good chance they’d have to eat some of the money to move him. The same thing goes for Jordan Zimmermann and Justin Upton as well.
If the Tigers’ plan is to reduce payroll while also stocking the farm for the future (a Cubs-esque model), they’ll be looking to deal players like J.D. Martinez, Ian Kinsler, and Nick Castellanos. Those players are painful in the short term, but they’re the ones that will set up the team well for the future.
Next: Detroit Tigers 2000s All-Decade Team
It’s very likely that we’ll continue to read reports of the Tigers making their players available as we head through the winter meetings and beyond.