Detroit Tigers: Taking on contracts could provide useful in adding prospects

Detroit Tigers general manager Al Avila will be working with more financial flexibility this offseason. He should use some money to add prospects in salary dump trades.

Detroit Tigers fans could very well see some trades this offseason.

With the rebuild now fully on after the deals sending Justins Verlander and Upton out of the Motor City, Detroit will be getting significantly younger.

Among the names who could conceivably be traded this winter include Ian Kinsler, Jose Iglesias and Shane Greene.

In a perfect world, Avila will be able to find takers for Jordan Zimmermann and Victor Martinez’ hefty contracts.

While it remains to be seen what happens with the Tigers, one thing is for certain for the team: more financial flexibility.

The non-waiver and waiver trade deadlines sapped Detroit of much of the team’s top-tier talent like Verlander, J.D. Martinez, Justin Upton, Alex Avila and Justin Wilson.

However, those moves freed up plenty of cash as well.

Some financial freedom

With the contracts of Martinez, Upton, Avila and Wilson completely off the Tigers’ hands, Detroit’s payroll outlook isn’t as daunting as it once was.

What’s more, Anibal Sanchez has a $16 million option on his contract (per Spotrac) that can be bought out for $5 million this winter.

Additionally, past commitments to Mike Pelfrey, Francisco Rodriguez and Mark Lowe will also come off the books.

There will obviously be arbitration rises elsewhere—not to mention Zimmermann’s contract jumping from $18 million to $24 million according to Spotrac—but the extra wiggle room will be there.

Taking on some contracts may not be a terrible idea

The Tigers obviously shouldn’t be heavily tacking on to the team’s payroll again.

However, there’s merit in absorbing another team’s bad contract in order to snag a potentially valuable prospect.

Just two Julys ago, Atlanta took on Bronson Arroyo’s deal, along with highly-touted starting pitching prospect Touki Tossaint, for utility man Phillip Gosselin.

Toussaint, 21, just made the jump to Double-A, where he logged a 3.18 ERA and 1.311 WHIP to go along with 10 strikeouts per nine frames in 39.2 innings.

Absorbing short-term contracts from other teams looking to create financial wiggle room could be an avenue for Al Avila and company to net some additional prospects to hasten the rebuild.

This is all speculative mind you, and it remains to be seen if any of these players are even traded, but here are some players the Detroit Tigers could take on in a trade in order to add prospects.