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Tigers going in ‘younger, leaner’ direction
- Updated: October 18, 2016
DETROIT — Changes are coming to the Tigers.
Taken in itself, that statement Tuesday from general manager Al Avila isn’t new. It’s the way the Tigers are approaching change that is dramatically different.
In that sense, Avila’s end-of-season press gathering Tuesday was more like the beginning of a new era.
“We want to get younger,” Avila said. “We want to get leaner. We want to run the organization without having to go over the means of the organization.”
It’s not going to be a sudden, dramatic tear-down, Avila said, and it’s not going to be done in one offseason. But it starts this offseason, making a winter that was already expected to feature a bevy of big trades across baseball potentially one where those big names include several Tigers.
Avila didn’t name names, but he said they have to be open-minded to anything that makes the club better over the long term.
“We certainly want to stay competitive,” Avila cautioned. “We certainly want to be able to try to get back in the playoffs. But at the same time, this organization has been working way above its means as far as payroll for many, many years, and it’s put us in a situation where quite frankly, it’s difficult to maneuver.”
The Tigers spent just over $200 million this past season, paying a luxury tax penalty for the first time since 2008. With the exception of 2011, they’ve ranked among the six highest-spending teams in baseball every year since 2008. A win-now mentality led to lucrative long-term contracts for Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander and Anibal Sanchez along with free-agent signings of Justin Upton, Jordan Zimmermann, Prince Fielder and Victor Martinez. All of those contracts came with the support or direct involvement of owner Mike Ilitch, whose quest to add a World Series title to his collection of Stanley Cup championships has directed the Tigers for more than a decade.
The Tigers took their bid for a postseason berth to the final day of the season before falling short of an American League Wild Card spot. …
