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Detroit Tigers: Yoenis Cespedes loves The D, ChiTown Price tag, coddled players

By Matt Pelc

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The Detroit Tigers week of trepidation on buying or selling has reached its halfway point with a record of 2-2 after splitting a four-game series at home with the woeful Seattle Mariners.

Still the team is holding onto hopes that this consistently inconsistent team will suddenly catch lightning in a bottle, allowing them not to be sellers, but buyers in the final days before the trading deadline.

Perhaps they can sweep the terrible Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park–but don’t hold your breath with Justin Verlander, Alfredo Simon and Shane Greene your scheduled starters.

So it is looking more and more likely that the Detroit Tigers will be sellers. If they sell Yoenis Cespedes, the outfielder likes his teammates, fans and organization so much he really wants to stay. If the Tigers trade him at the deadline, he is even willing to come back to the team next season. Ken Rosenthal seems to think this scenario would actually help Detroit to retain the free agent-to-be’s services.

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We talked yesterday about how David Price is reportedly gone after this season whether his last game in a Tigers’ uniform is in July or early October.

One team interested in Price’s services is the Chicago Cubs. With postseason fever invading at Wrigley Field for the first time in a decade, the Tigers could hold the Cubbies feet to the fire to get some good pieces in return. Still Chicago has some trepidation about trading prospects for guys with expiring contracts. With that said, Joe Maddon is the Cubs’ manager and the only manager Price knew until being traded last season. This, coupled with his arrival via a trade this season, could give the Cubs a leg-up in signing Price this offseason.

Finally as we talk about trading today’s players, one former Tigers is not happy with what is going on his former sport.

Tigers Might Trade Cespedes to keep him? – Ken Rosenthal, Just a Bit Outside

"A team cannot extend a qualifying offer to a released player under the collective-bargaining agreement. Nor can it re-sign him as a free agent until after May 15 of the following year.In other words, the Tigers hold exclusive negotiating rights with Cespedes only through the five-day window at the end of the World Series. After that, they would be at a disadvantage unless he was willing to sit out until May 15.If, on the other hand, the Tigers traded Cespedes, they would lose the ability to negotiate with him for the rest of the season and through the exclusive negotiating window. But they would gain equal footing with other clubs in free agency, and could sign Cespedes without losing a draft pick.Will any of this influence the Tigers’€™ decision on whether to move Cespedes? Perhaps not – the Tigers might not trade anyone, considering that they are only three games back in the wild-card race. Besides, Cespedes is telling friends he wants to re-sign with the club, regardless of the circumstances."

Chicago Cubs have asked about David Price – Matt Snyder, Detroit Jock City

"Four players who were among the Cubs’ top five prospects when the year began are now in the big leagues: Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Addison Russell, and Jorge Soler. The Tigers would certainly not be getting any of those players, nor would it be likely that they could land last year’s top Cubs prospect Javier Baez, who has spent the year killing the ball in AAA.The Tigers would be looking deeper on the list to find their return package, but the Cubs have a deep system and boast plenty of potential major league pieces even among players who don’t make their organizational Top-10 list."

Former Detroit Tigers catcher Mike Heath: Today’s players ‘coddled way too much’ – Peter J. Wallner, MLive

"“In my opinion, I think the guys today are just coddled way too much and given way too much,” said the former Detroit Tigers catcher, who played from 1978-91. “I know that’s a broad statement because they earned their way just as we did, but it’s different.”Yes, the now-60 year-old knows his opinions might come off as sour grapes, but he also thinks his comments are what many others inside the game would like to say.“I sound a little bitter, I guess, ” he said, “but I think it’s pretty much a fact that there are a lot of guys coaching in the big leagues today that off the record would probably tell you the same thing.”"

Next: Rumors: Price not coming back to Detroit in 2016

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