Tigers better not get any funny ideas with Zack Short electing free agency

Depth is a valuable asset in any sport, but it’s especially valuable in baseball when there’s a 162-game season and players need a day off every now and then. Plus, anyone who watched the Tigers this season knows how important it is when injuries derail an entire lineup.

There is good depth and bad depth, though.

Good depth comes in the form of either rising prospects or veterans who are used to playing a platoon role and can assume several different positions. Having a veteran utility guy is always a positive, for the most part.

However, the Tigers need to avoid giving into their intrusive thoughts with former utility infielder Zack Short hitting the market once again. The two-time former Tiger was designated for assignment back in June after slashing a paltry .167/.304/.222 in 23 games in his second stint with Detroit and he was claimed off waivers just days later by the New York Mets.

With the Mets, Short went just 1-for-14 at the plate, appearing in just six games.

For some reason, it feels like the Tigers are going to be tempted to go after the 31-year-old infielder who has a career .169 batting average over six years. They cannot be tricked again.

In the first go-around with Detroit, he had a negative WAR, a .174 batting average, and he had a strikeout rate of 33.7% over parts of three seasons. That is very clearly not an everyday player’s numbers nor should it be a depth piece’s stat line. It wasn’t much better in his second stint obviously.

Actually, it was worse.

No funny ideas, Scott Harris. It’s time to fully move on from Short. It’s hard to justify spending even $750,000 on a defense-only infielder who can’t swing the bat, especially with the loaded farm system that the Tigers possess.

The Tigers will be just fine on infield depth

If Harris needs to be talked down from spending more money on Short, he needs to take one look at the infielders currently on his roster as well as those rising through the farm system.

Kevin McGonigle and Javier Báez will be back and even though Gleyber Torres is likely gone, the Tigers had a number of infield prospects waiting in the wings. In that case, they would only need to worry about depth, but Detroit has nothing but depth in the infield.

Hao-Yu Lee, John Peck, Zach McKinstry, and Trey Sweeney (when healthy) could all open the season on the roster while young prospects like Max Anderson and Bryce Rainer (though he's further off) are waiting for their opportunities. There’s just no need for a guy who hits .160 as a depth piece because he can field a ground ball.

It’s time for Detroit to be serious this offseason and bringing Short back for a third stint with the Tigers would be quite the opposite. Time to move on. No more funny stuff.

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