Detroit Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski: Max Scherzer rumors “not accurate”

Welp. That didn’t last fast.

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To catch you up on today’s drama, earlier today Buster Olney of ESPN tweeted that the Detroit Tigers were making retaining Max Scherzer their top priority, that they were prepared to spend “big, big dollars” and that they were committed to signing Max and keeping David Price despite his high looming arbitration salary.

Not so fast says the man who makes those decisions.

According to Chris Iott of MLive.com, Tigers’ GM Dave Dombrowski states that is not the case.

"“I don’t know where he got that from,” Dombrowski said. “That’s not accurate. I’m not sure where it comes from, how it comes. I know it didn’t come from this room, but that’s not accurate.”Dombrowski then joked that the news would have been a surprise to Tigers owner Mike Ilitch.“The other thing I’ll say is I hope Mr. I didn’t see that,” Dombrowski said, “because he’d be saying, ‘Well, where did that come from?'”"

Dombrowski went on to say that nothing has changed, they are not in negotiations with any free agents currently and they are “very happy with our starting staff as we sit here right now.”

As I said earlier today that usually reports like this do not leak out under Dave Dombrowski unless, 1. they are false or 2. the team and player are near a deal. There were no blanket denials (or confirmations) by the Tigers in the hours following Olney’s Tweet but they came pretty steadfast this evening.

No, this does not mean the Tigers have completely ruled out signing Scherzer. If they suddenly trade Rick Porcello or Price than there would be an opening in the starting rotation. Notice DD says  they are happy with the rotation “right now.” Additionally, Scherzer’s agent Scott Boras is reportedly waiting until Jon Lester and James Shields sign their deals to see if he can get more from Detroit.

Boras clients are notorious for signing late in the off-season as the Tigers remember from inking two clients of his, Pudge Rodriguez (signed in Feb. 2004) and Magglio Ordonez (Jan. 2005).

On the other hand, contrary to popular belief, DD rarely goes back on things he says. Prince Fielder is a notable example of saying the team would not pursue a player and then ended up signing him. I can’t honestly think of another instance of this.

Of course, Dombrowski is very careful about his words and any trade can come along and completely change the Tigers’ circumstances.

As was the case with Nelson Cruz last year, until Max signs with another team or the Tigers we will just wait and speculate.