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Detroit Tigers: First Base Options For The 2020 Season

By Tyler Kotila

TOKYO, JAPAN - NOVEMBER 10: Outfielder Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh #25 of Japan at bat in the first inning during the international friendly match between Japan and Mexico at the Tokyo Dome on November 10, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Masterpress/Getty Images)
TOKYO, JAPAN - NOVEMBER 10: Outfielder Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh #25 of Japan at bat in the first inning during the international friendly match between Japan and Mexico at the Tokyo Dome on November 10, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Masterpress/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /

Besides the in-house candidates like Candelario, Dixon, Goodrum (here and there), or bringing back Hicks, the Tigers may need to look outside the organization to fill the hole.

The Tigers can dip into the free agency pool to fill the first baseman hole. The first name that strikes as a good fit for the Tigers is Justin Smoak. Having been in the league for nine years, Smoak is a veteran who could morph into trade bait if he has a productive season for the Tigers.

In 2019, Smoak hit .208/.406/.342 with twenty-two home runs and sixty-one RBI for the Toronto Blue Jays. Smoak has spent the last five seasons with the Blue Jays, but he is now a free agent.

Smoak is a thirty-three-year-old who could be a valuable trade chip at the deadline to stock up the farm system to extend the window of contention for the Tigers when it does open up again.

If the Tigers could go and sign Smoak for a one-year, $4-8 million range contract with a mutual option for 2021, that would be best for the team. Ideally, the Tigers could get Smoak for right around $6 million, and then deal him at the deadline to a contender looking for a left-handed bat, which there is almost always a market for.

If Smoak ends up being scooped up by another team before the Tigers make a move, they could look to sign Yonder Alonso instead. In 2019 Alonso started with the Chicago White Sox, where he was struggling; he was then designated for assignment and elected free agency.

Alonso then latched on with the Colorado Rockies at the end of the season for fifty-four games before becoming a free agent again for 2020. Alonso is thirty-two years old, and also a left-handed bat that the Tigers would benefit from.

He played in a total of 121 big league games last season between his tenure with the White Sox and then the Rockies. In total, he hit .199/.346/.296 with ten home runs and thirty-seven RBI, which is not pretty. However, in the fifty-four games with the Rockies, his slash line was .260/.479/.357, which is much more favorable.

Hitting at home for the Rockies offers benefits for hitters, but he seemed to have turned some things around compared to the rough start to the year he had with the White Sox. With his designation for assignment, it means that the Tigers could snag him for cheap and hope he pans out for the organization.

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