Major League teams committed to more than a billion dollars in salaries during a 48-hour frenzy that continued Monday night, but the Detroit Tigers -- who started the offseason with a bang -- didn’t spend a penny.
The Tigers still don’t have a shortstop and it isn’t clear that they’ll get one before Wednesday’s expected work stoppage.
UPDATE: The Tigers are reportedly nearing a six-year deal with shortstop Javier Baez.
For now, the Tigers are watching the market with interest, and what they’ve seen has been stunning.
Two of the upper-tier shortstops are off the market and they both went to the same team.
The Texas Rangers made a huge splash by signing Marcus Semien (seven years, $175 million) on Sunday and followed that up by adding Corey Seager (10 years, $325 million) on Monday. Yes, that’s a $500 million middle infield for a team that went 60-102 last season.
That leaves three high-level shortstops, all of whom must be licking their lips in anticipation of their forthcoming windfall:
* Carlos Correa, widely considered the top shortstop on the market, will likely use Seager’s deal as merely the starting point in contract discussions.
* Javier Baez and Trevor Story are both two years younger than Semien. In this climate, how can they ask for anything less than seven years?
If the Tigers aren’t comfortable with those figures, they may be willing to wait out the frenzy. If the lockout stretches until close to the start of spring training -- and some believe it could -- then perhaps prices will come down.
Maybe the Tigers will ponder other options during the break, like utility man Chris Taylor or defensive whiz Andrelton Simmons. Maybe trades will percolate. (What will happen to Rangers infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa now that the club has spent a half-billion dollars making him dispensable?)
Or maybe what some fans have dreamed all along -- a marriage with Correa -- is still on the table, just delayed for a while.
There were two other major deals around the league on Monday. Both involved former Tigers.
Max Scherzer agreed to a three-year, $130 million contract with the New York Mets, blowing the previous record for average annual value out of the water. Lefty Robbie Ray, who won the AL Cy Young with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2021, signed a five-year, $110 million contract with the Seattle Mariners.
The Tigers are expected to add one more starting pitcher before the winter is done, presumably at a lower price point than the $77 million they spent on left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez.
There’s still time to add players before Wednesday’s expected lockout, but there are expected to be few truly last-minute deals, because that would leave no time for physicals.
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