Detroit Tigers: Assessing whether team can contend in next two seasons

The reality of the situation

In a perfect world, the Detroit Tigers would be able to play meaningful baseball into July or August next season.

However, that is a perfect world scenario as it is and might be unlikely if some of 2017’s trends repeat themselves.

If Cabrera continues to struggle at the dish, Boyd, Norris and Zimmermann all go through lengthy spells of inconsistency and the bullpen fails to make progress, the team will once again be sunk in the standings.

However, if Detroit can hit on some veteran free agent signings and make some progress across the board, they could eventually build themselves into a surprise Wild Card contender by 2019.

By that point, Franklin Perez, Christin Stewart, Grayson Long, Mike Gerber, Beau Burrows, Garcia and Dawel Lugo should be integrated into the team with the likes of Daz Cameron, Kyle Funkhouser, Sandy Baez and Jake Rogers closer to the Majors.

In conclusion

Baseball is a fickle sport and the standings often fluctuate from season to season. Just look at the Twins.

Minnesota has rattled off win totals of 70, 83, 59 and 85 in the past four seasons.

While the Detroit Tigers seem set for another year (or possibly two) of rebuilding, a lot can happen in two years around the league.

A pennant, or even a playoff berth may too far out of reach in the next two years.

Next: Tigers/Marlins trade ideas

However, the Tigers have the potential to lay the groundwork for a team that could bring a World Series trophy back to the Motor City in the following years.