Detroit Tigers: How the looming work stoppage could alter their offseason

If this year’s winter meetings are canceled, the trade market may be more scarce for the Detroit Tigers

According to a report from NY Daily News’ Bill Madden, the winter meetings, which typically happen in mid-December, are likely to be canceled in response to the expired labor agreement.

The winter meetings, of course, have a vast impact on the game but trades are a major part of the meetings as well. Fans have often pleaded that the organization would do more to acquire talent through all available avenues. More recently, trades have not been a factor after the club sold off its largest and most expensive assets in 2017.

Surely, trades can happen outside of the meetings, but often the face-to-face interaction coupled with the chaos of having every organization present can create a flurry of transactions that may not otherwise exist.

Perhaps the impact for the Detroit Tigers in this facet is somewhat limited, though; we have heard GM Al Avila recently speak about the organization’s reluctance to trade away future talent in exchange for present talent already.

Certainly, nobody feels that Spencer Torkelson or Riley Greene would get traded this winter, and fans are still skeptical about the organization’s ability to reel in a trade haul (see JD Martinez), but for a club looking up at the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central, it is evident that free agency and prospect promotions cannot be the sole source of big-league talent. No winter meetings may hinder the trade avenue.