Tigers emerge victorious in AL Silver Slugger race (but top free agent target loses)

The Tigers had two Silver Slugger finalists this year — one a no brainer in Riley Greene and the other a total surprise in Zach McKinstry. While fans could argue that there might've been a couple of snubs (Spencer Torkelson in particular), Greene and McKinstry were more than deserving representatives for an offense that exceeded expectations this season.

Greene was up against Cody Bellinger, Byron Buxton, Aaron Judge, Julio Rodríguez, and George Springer in the AL outfield category; McKinstry against Maikel Garcia and Ben Rice for a utility honor. Steep competition all-around, and Tigers fans just had to keep fingers crossed that at least one of Greene and McKinstry would rep Detroit among the winners.

In a delightful twist of fate, both of them were named AL Silver Slugger winners on Friday night (Greene shares the outfield awards with Judge and Buxton). It caps off a breakout season for Greene and a miraculous, redemptive season for McKinstry. Who among us would ever have predicted Zach McKinstry would get an All-Star nod and a Silver Slugger before this season? (Anyone who says they would've is lying).

Riley Greene, Zach McKinstry represent Tigers among AL Silver Slugger winners

The rest of the AL's winners are a lot of usual suspects: Bobby Witt Jr. at shortstop, George Springer at DH, and José Ramírez at third, edging out fellow third base nominees Junior Caminero and Alex Bregman.

Bregman has just one Silver Slugger to show for his very successful career, as he's almost always beaten out by Ramírez, who continues to be one of the most underrated future Hall of Famers in the league and a perpetual thorn in the Tigers' sides.

Bregman is once again a rumored free agent target for the Tigers this offseason, and it would certainly be nice to have a third baseman who could even be considered in the same category as Ramírez, even if history indicates that he'll probably continue to come up short.

It's unclear exactly how invested the Tigers will be in Bregman's new market, even though rumblings suggested that they would've been all over a potential trade with the Red Sox at this year's trade deadline.

The Athletic's contract prediction for Bregman this offseason (six years, $171 million) is almost exactly what the Tigers offered him last year — six years, $171.5 million — so they could run it back and finally get their white whale, who could give them as good a shot as any to bring another Silver Slugger home next year.