Experts See Detroit Tigers as Active Participants in Free Agent Market

Our current poll asks you which free agent player should be the Tigers number one priority. Over 600 of you have voted and the results overwhelmingly favor Carl Crawford as the player the Tigers should target. While the organization very well may have Crawford at the top of the list, the experts don’t like the Tigers’ chances of landing him. Cliff Lee sits at number two in our poll but fans shouldn’t expect to see him don the Olde English D either.

MLBtraderumors.com (MLBTR for short) asked their writers to predict where each of the top 50 free agents will play next year. While the experts unanimously agree that neither Crawford (Angels) or Lee (Yankees) will call Detroit home, the Tigers do have a prominent place in list of predictions.

Jayson Werth is ranked as the market’s fourth best free agent. MLBTR writer Mark Polishuk likes the Tigers’ chances to land him while the other four writers see Werth in Boston next year.

Adam Dunn ranks fifth on the list and the experts see the race for his services coming down to two teams. Steve Adams, Ben Nicholson-Smith and Mike Axisa predict Dunn will end up a Tiger while Tim Dierkes and Mark Polishuk think he will sign with the Cubs.

Sixth on the list is Victor Martinez, another name that has been connected to the Tigers early in the hot stove season. Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams and Mark Polishuk predict those rumblings will come to fruition. Other possible suitors include the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles.

What about our old friend Magglio Ordonez? Tim Dierkes and Ben Nicholson-Smith see him moving on to the Toronto Blue Jays while the other three expect him to stay with the Tigers.

Three of the experts also see the Tigers adding a reliever from the field of the top 50 free agents. See the list below for a full summary of each writer’s predictions for the Tigers and vote in our poll for the prediction you would most like to see become reality.

Tim Dierkes: Victor Martinez, J.J. Putz
Steve Adams: Adam Dunn, Victor Martinez, Magglio Ordonez, Koji Uehara
Mark Polishuk: Jayson Werth, Victor Martinez, Magglio Ordonez, Joaquin Benoit
Ben Nicholson-Smith: Adam Dunn, Jorge de la Rosa
Mike Axisa: Adam Dunn, Magglio Ordonez

(Note: While Zac was writing this up today, I was compiling my predictions based on the MLBTR list for my weekly spot on Call to the Pen. Click here for my predictions on the top 20 free agents this year. –John Parent)

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