The Detroit Tigers are Fun! Watch now for 2022

Ignore the score from last night in Cleveland, the Detroit Tigers are fun to watch.

Friday, May the 7th, was a cold spring night departing Comerica Park. The Detroit Tigers dropped yet another game to the Minnesota Twins where the bullpen gave up 5 runs in 4 innings, par for the course on a team that was heading nowhere fast.

Fan anger was boiling over everywhere, the traditional print media, the various sites dedicated to covering the Tigers locally, 97.1 sports radio, you name it and the Tigers were front and center for all the wrong reasons. There seemed to be no hope. The lack of offseason effort towards fielding a respectable team was taking center stage in the worst way.

Even what I have called the 10-year rebuild to mediocrity seemed to be in danger. Fast Forward and the Tigers are now 34-44, having won 25 of their 45 games since the low point of the season. The team has some exciting players. The growth of the pitching Big 3 of Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, and Matt Manning has been on full display. Akil Baddoo has bounced back after a Hollywood start and the predictable crash in a way that is truly impressive and I was certainly not expecting. You can feel the losing culture leaving as AJ Hinch steers the ship. Players are being held accountable, shuffled in and out to see who can help now, but more importantly do any of them have a place for 2022 and beyond.

Call this my look towards 2022 version1.0, which will continue to evolve as we watch the season play out and see who is in, who is out, and how the 2022 roster could be pieced together. The Tigers payroll currently stands at 23rd, just shy of 87 million dollars according to Sportrac, and while expecting a substantial increase, I am trying to construct the roster within what I believe could be a real bump for the 2022 campaign knowing more work will need to be done in 2023 and the hopefully topped off in 2024 with the 30 million dollars freed up from Miguel Cabrera’s contract expiring.

First, let’s take a look at the current players on the 40-man roster who are arbitration-eligible:

Detroit Tigers players who will be tendered:

Spencer Turnbull: Arbitration Year 1- Turnbull has become a bonafide starter with tremendous value and will still be a steal assuming health. I am confident he will not be traded despite his potential value at the deadline this year, though his health situation has tampered down those rumblings anyways.

Jeimer Candelario: Arbitration year 2- What is the CandyMan exactly? He flashes brilliance that had some fans screaming for an extension after featuring a May OPS of .884. That was sandwiched in between a March/April of .661 and a .514 for the month of June through the 27th. He was excellent in 52 games in 2020 with a .297/.369/.503 slash line which is an OPS of .872.

Jeimer is the modern-day Todd Jones of position players for the Tigers. Cedar Point should rename a roller coaster after him. It is really frustrating how he goes from looking like an all-star candidate for a month and then Eric Munson in the blink of an eye.  I suspect he is basically a league-average player, with these next 3 months being huge for his future paydays and roll with the team. Currently, I would keep taking it a year to year with him.

Likely to be tendered:

Matthew Boyd: Arbitration year 4: Assuming the new CBA does not affect his status, Boyd and his current 6.5 million dollar salary will be entering his final season before free agency. While I am not a huge fan of his roller coaster performances they feature a good couple of months followed by mediocrity and awful, you can do worse than having Boyd in the 5th spot in the rotation.

Assuming health and no trade, I can see him being brought back for 2022 before being bid adieu. Don’t worry about losing mediocre assets that are easily replaceable without getting a return. Essentially the 8-9 Million or so he will get for next season can be put towards a replacement the following year if necessary. As much as I have been ready to move on from Boyd for years I am bracing for one last swan song.

My biggest fan wish is to cut loose of Boyd and spend another 10-15 million over top of his savings now to bring back Justin Verlander. However, with other holes more pressing for next year, I don’t think the reunion most of us are wishing for is in the cards just yet. Perhaps for 2023 or 2024 if Verlander proves healthy and is still performing at a high level. He has indicated he wants to play several more years and I’m not betting against him reaching his mid 40’s as a productive player.

Jose Cisnero- I am putting him in the likely category only because I believe he could be traded at the deadline. If he remains with the team I am bringing him back without question. Relievers are always in high demand and if there is a reasonable return, moving the 32-year-old Cisnero to a contender is a real possibility. I just assume keep him for 2022 but we will have to see this play out.

The Detroit Tigers infield is a messy situation:

Willi Castro has been swinging the bat a little better in June (.247/.313/.411) vs his overall .220/.285/.354, however, the -.8 BWAR for the season with the defense factored in shows us what a negative contributor he has been thus far. This is a crucial 2nd half of the season for him. Watch to see if the pop in the bat returns

Miguel Cabrera has been positive in June, after sporting a sub .550 OPS in April and May, he has bounced back with a .301/.338/.397 average. Miguel is going to pose a real dilemma for the club should he be just a little short of 3000 hits and 500 home runs at the end of the season if his performance reverts to his early-season start.

The roster spots will be at more of a premium moving forward and the Big Fella is going to need to produce at a reasonable level to justify a spot. Pencil him in to start 2022 with the big club, but I am not so sure that he will finish it. Hope against hope for a Miggy rebound in the HR department and that he can at least maintain a slash line similar to June going forward.

Jonathan Schoop after a rough start has been on fire. While cooling off the last couple of days he is currently featuring a .271/.323/.475 slash line with 15 HR on the season. There will be trade interest in Schoop, and if there are offers that make sense by all means he goes to the highest bidder.

AJ Hinch has mentioned the possibility of trading Schoop, but also brought up the idea that he could be extended, sitting how Schoop likes it here in Detroit and fits in well. I would talk extension now to test the waters on the parameters for a 2-year deal while simultaneously exploring the trade market. With his ability to play 1B and 2B, there are plenty of ABs for him as a bridge player to Spencer Torkelson at 1B and a long-term solution at 2B.

Shortstop: This is where Chris Ilitch needs to green light Al Avila to signing a big star. Chris needs his Pudge Rodriguez moment and it has to come to this off-season. Corey Seager, Carlos Correa, Javier Baez, and Trevor Story make up a Big 4 who will be hitting the market this off-season. I want either Seager or Correra wearing a Tigers uniform next season.

Seager is a Boras client and the Dodgers also have Clayton Kershaw to contend with this year, after signing Mookie Betts and Trevor Bauer to expensive contracts, as well as having Cody Bellanger and Walker Buheler to deal with in the, not so distance future. It is not inconceivable the Boras relationship with the Tigers organization could be rekindled.

3B- As discussed in the arbitration section, ride with Jeimer Candelario for 1 more year and then go from there based on his performance and the team’s circumstances.

The next 3 months will say a lot about how the outfield looks to start 2022. This is a huge 2nd half of the season for Daz Cameron who has at least looked serviceable with a little pop in the bat in his 13 games so far this season. Possible rookie of the year candidate Akil Baddoo is growing rapidly before our eyes.

The plate discipline we saw in spring training has returned and the bat and speed are legitimate MLB tools. I would be tempted to go into 2022 with an outfield of Robbie Grossman/Daz Cameron/Akil Baddoo with whoever you want to use as the 4th outfielder until Riley Greene arrives during the season, which could be sooner rather than later. Sure I would love a bigger upgrade, but the other upgrades needed more take precedence at this point, subject to change based on the current players’ final performances in 2021.

The 2022 Detroit Tigers Bullpen

In the bullpen returning I have Gregory Soto, Kyle Funkhouser, Jose Cisnero if he is not traded and Michael Fulmer depending on health. Daniel Norris, I would let walk and I would also look into replacing Bryan Garcia, Tyler Alexander, and Joe Jimenez.

I would not go crazy spending here, but a solid veteran or two, pick your favorites from the available list and drop me your comments on why, I am not finicky on who is brought aboard, as reliever arms are wild cards from year to year seemingly. Then Al Avila can fill out the rest of the pen internally or with players signed to minor league deals with invites to spring training.

Is this team a playoff contender in 2022? Not likely but we could at least dream about an “if everything goes right” scenario without being laughed out of the room. Would it represent a significant step forward and potentially flirt with .500? I think that is a possibility. 2023, when I have the positional player Big 3 of Torkelson, Greene, and Dingler penciled into the Opening Day lineup is when things will really get exciting.

Until then, watch the performances of the players we continue to roll in and out this year, I expect Kody Clemens to get a look here soon as well, and we will figure out over time how the roster will look for next year and beyond. Keep your eyes open on our minor league coverage for other prospects to raise their profile and move into the late 2022/early 2023 conversation.

I will revisit this article with a 2.0 edition after the trade deadline on July 30th when we know who is left standing and we have another month of performances from players fighting for their jobs to factor into the equation. Until then, enjoy no more cold evenings at Comerica Park until September and watch the AJ Hinch Tigers compete with your eyes towards the not-so-distant future for a change!