Three Free Agents the Tigers Must Sign this Offseason
By Bob Heyrman
The Detroit Tigers rebuild is set to continue in 2020. Looking back at 2019 after being removed for nearly a couple of months now, there wasn’t much to be excited about, but the organization did secure the first overall pick in the draft. With that, the team also picks first in the rule-five draft — a win-win for Detroit.
In a season where your favorite team finishes dead last in the league, it can be hard at times to find some positives. Sure, the Detroit Tigers have a couple of highly touted prospects, but they are all pitching prospects.
Detroit drastically lacks positional prospects, well blue-chip prospects that is. The team’s top hitting prospect is third baseman, Isaac Paredes. He will likely land in Detroit sometime in 2020, perhaps even a player who finds himself on the roster on opening day if he can produce during spring training.
The Tigers selected highschool outfielder Riley Greene with the fifth overall pick in the 2019 MLB Amature Draft. He’s expected to grow into a tremendous talent, but when? 2022 at the earliest, I’d say. Daz Cameron, the son of former MLBer Mike Cameron, is set to be the center fielder of the future and will likely start in Detroit on opening day. That’s the Tigers’ top three positional prospects. That’s it.
They are bi-passed by a host of young arms when you consider blue-chip prospects. In my opinion, Detroit’s overall top prospect is right-handed starting pitcher Matt Manning, then Casey Mize, a surging left-handed hurdler in Tarik Skubal. Those three starters should enter the season as Detroit’s overall top three prospects.
It’s an organization that simply won’t win many games next season, so why not enter free agency with an agenda in place. Detroit should try and sign a few veteran players to one-year deals in the hopes of flipping said players for positional prospects at the 2020 trade deadline.
Detroit has many holes within its roster, so an upgrade at just about any position will be a welcomed one. The anchor of the lineup remains to be Miguel Cabrera. He’s more of a boat anchor than an offensive threat these days.
Here are three players the Tigers should sign this Winter.