Detroit Tigers: Christopher Ilitch says the resources to spend are available

Detroit Tigers owner Christopher Ilitch mentioned Monday that ownership would provide the necessary resources to general manager Al Avila and manager A.J Hinch this offseason to accomplish the franchises’ offseason goals and plans.

Monday, the trio held a press conference to introduce the newest Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez.

During the press conference, Hinch mentioned that the Tigers want winners in Detroit.  Rodriguez joins a youthful Tigers rotation and perhaps headline the group in year one.  Rodriguez will help take some pressure off Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal at the top of the rotation, providing the Tigers with a much-needed reliable arm.

Avila still has work to do filling out the group.  Matt Manning is in-line to remain the fourth or fifth starter but with Spencer Turnbull out for most of, if not all, 2022 recovering from Tommy John surgery. That leaves Matthew Boyd or Tyler Alexander perhaps battling it out for the final spot, plus whoever Avila invites to Spring Training unless they sign another free agent.

I’ve mentioned in the past that it wouldn’t shock me to see Avila add another veteran starter to mix in this rotation and even move on from the often injured Boyd.  A couple of players to target are Steven Matz, Michael Pineda, Alex Cobb, Jon Gray, Martin Perez, or perhaps bringing back Jose Urena.

Detroit also added a two-time Gold Glove catcher, Tucker Barnhart, this offseason.

Christopher Ilitch claims the resources to spend in free agency will be available to the Detroit Tigers.

The conversation promptly turned and focused on Hinch’s lunch date with pending free agent Carlos Correa and if the organization would be willing to spend $300 million or more on one player.

Ilitch had this to say via the Detroit Free Press.

"“I would defer to Al in terms of what he and AJ believe our organization needs to accomplish our goals and execute our plan,” Ilitch said. “The resources are going to be there.“I know Al, AJ and myself are very aligned on making sure that when we talk about contracts and new contracts through free agency, or even trades, that we need to be mindful. Our goal is not to be good one time but to be good over the course of time. We really are shooting for sustainable success and competitive baseball over time. We’re going to be mindful of that as we look at contracts going forward.”"

Tigers general manager Avila followed with this, again regarding the question asked about spending a significant amount of money on one player.

"“We said we were going to take a measured approach to the offseason,” Avila said. “We’re going to sign players to make this team better. Obviously, we want to get into the playoffs. But we have to be careful as we move forward.“Not one player is going to make us a winner. We have to make sure we can field a good 26-man roster. It’s going to be a measured process. We’re going to be very careful in how we do it.”"

If you are trying to read the tea leaves like I am, the Detroit Tigers brass seems reluctant to push their chips to the center of the table for Correa, who may be hoping to land upwards of $350 million over ten years.

Avila acknowledged that the organization needs to add a shortstop and will continue looking to add one either in free agency or via trade if necessary.

Carlos Correa remains the top available free agent, but the Detroit Tigers certainly have other options such as Javier Baez, Trevor Story, Marcus Semien, and even utility man Chris Taylor.