Tigers' link to star free agent probably won't get much support from fans

The Tigers' unexpected success this past season has, refreshingly, earned them a place in a number of speculative conversations about some of the top free agents on the market this offseason. Pete Alonso, Christian Walker, and Alex Bregman would never have been even loosely linked to the Tigers as options if it weren't for the fact that Detroit beat the odds this year and not only made the postseason, but won their first playoff series since 2013.

However, Alonso, Walker, Bregman, and the like atop of the free agent pool do still seem a bit too far out of the Tigers' price range. It's not that they don't have the money — Scott Harris has said that he will have a bigger budget to buy players this year — but Detroit's philosophy for prioritizing development over buying isn't going to be discarded.

At least Alonso, Walker, and Bregman could all fit in at two positions that the Tigers need upgrades at: first and third base. One of the newest names to gain some traction as a potential fit for the Tigers doesn't.

On MLB Network, Matt Vasgersian and Harold Reynolds speculated on left fielder Teoscar Hernández's chances of joining the Tigers. In their ranking of the top 50 MLB free agents this offseason, Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors also predicted Hernández would go to the Tigers.

Teoscar Hernández being named as a possible fit for Tigers in free agency is unrealistic for Detroit

Unless they got him to agree to retool as an infielder, buying Hernández is a total non-starter for Detroit. He spent the majority of his year with the Dodgers in left field with occasional turns in right, and the Tigers' corner outfield spots are almost certainly going to Riley Greene and Wenceel Pérez full-time next season. Even if they signed Hernández to mostly DH, that would put Kerry Carpenter, a poor defensive player, in right field to split time with Pérez.

The Tigers have been pretty free-wheeling with their defensive configurations over the past few years, but if anyone has earned himself an everyday role at his position, it's Greene, who was one of the best left fielders in the American League this year and just won a Fielding Bible Award. Harris specifically named three players — Greene, Carpenter, and Matt Vierling — as most improved, and with the Tigers' general philosophy of sticking to their young players, there's almost no chance that they sacrifice playing time for those three in particular in order to add a veteran with a powerful bat.

The front office will almost certainly be focused on first and third base candidates. Hernández's addition might look nice on paper, but it doesn't seem realistic for the Tigers.