The Walking Dead: Detroit Tigers Edition

Following the Detroit Tigers current off-season is a little like being a fan of The Walking Dead, you know someone’s leaving, its just a matter of when.

The culturally relevant phenomenon that is The Walking Dead aired its controversial Season 7 premiere episode about a month ago. Among the gore, blood lust, and torture porn elements in it, the episode answers questions that fans had all summer long. Namely, “which beloved character was smashed in the skull by Negan?”

The fans had their questions answered two-fold as a pair of beloved characters exited the series in “smashing” fashion. See what I did there? I’ll show myself out.

As with any show which regularly offs favorite characters such as Game Of Thrones, or my new favorite Westworld, TWD straddles the line between entertainment and cruelty. This often leaving the fates of beloved characters hanging in the balance (like Glenn, played by Michigan-native and Detroit sports fan Steven Yeun).

Similarly, seeing Detroit Tigers trade rumors everyday is like watching an episode of TWD. You know someone’s going to get killed. In the Tigers’ case, someone’s getting traded, but who will it be?

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J.D. Martinez seems like a sure-bet to go. Perhaps he’s more of an Abraham. Pretty much every fan likes him, and wants him to stay, but he’s not indispensable. After all, J.D. was a newer addition to the Tigers, like Abraham was relatively a newcomer on the show.

Where it gets a little more iffy are the rumored trades of Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera. Which, if you watch The Walking Dead, you know it would be like if the show killed off Daryl and Rick, arguably the most popular character and series star respectively.

It seems many Detroit Tigers’ fans understand what the team is doing. Spending freely hasn’t won the ultimate prize for this franchise, so another path must be forged. Al Avila said painful decisions were ahead, which sorta channeled Game of Thrones “winter is coming.”

Still, where the logic of this rebuild, retool, blow-up, whatever you want to call it, gets flawed is the lack of transparency. The Tigers’ front office hasn’t exactly told us what they want to, or are going to, do.

Part of it is understandable, you don’t want to play your hand by saying “this guy’s available” or “this guy is untouchable.” Nonetheless, if you’re going to allegedly dangle the two cornerstones of the Detroit Tigers’ franchise, you had better clue fans into your plans.

If you’re honest, and say that we must get this team younger, and no one is off the table, it might appease some fans. These are fans who can’t understand why the Tigers don’t wade into the thin free agent market this year, pull a rabbit out of the hat, and contend in 2017. This is probably not the right course of action, so explaining the logic of the rebuild would be welcome.

The brewing anger from fans may have to do with the fact that Avila said he “hoped to” contend while dialing back payroll. That is something that’s usually contrary, especially when reducing a large payroll.

Is it a three-year plan to turn this team back into a contender? Five-year plan? Hell, even say “we want to emulate the way the Chicago Cubs were built,” that’s fine. The Tigers owe it to fans to be honest and not speak out of both sides of their mouth.

Baseball was a “walker” (or zombie if you aren’t a TWD fan) for a long time in Detroit. Sure, the baseball team played here, but it didn’t matter. They were typically out of contention at best by Memorial Day, at worst by tax day.

Still, for fans of this era, we’d like to be reassured that dipping into the annual 90-loss well again is only temporary. Is this truly a rebuild? The lack of clarity on the subject will lead fans to believe it’s simply a salary dump and will abandon the team in droves.

Next: Detroit Tigers Rumors: High Asking Price for Ian Kinsler

In other words, don’t “kill off” our favorite players without providing the context for it.

Most Tigers’ off-seasons are full of hope and excitement as Mr I’s money gets spent. The first month of this off-season has not been as fun, to say the least. It’s the feeling of dread of watching, just like everyone’s favorite zombie show. We don’t want to watch, but we have to.

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