The Detroit Tigers visit Target Field this week, and it might be worth stopping by for one last look. One way or another, these latter-day Twins tormenters figure to have a new identity next season.
This expensive mix of aging veterans almost certainly will be pared by Opening Day 2017. And as for Detroit's remarkable decade-long run as postseason contenders — four AL Central titles, three second-place finishes and two World Series appearances in the past 10 seasons — it's hard to picture that lasting much longer, either. Even — or especially — if they don't trade some of their cornerstones.
Justin Verlander bristled last month when a Detroit News columnist suggested the 2011 AL MVP might be traded, declaring, "I want to stay here." But as last year's trade of Yoenis Cespedes proved, Detroit's best move might be to dismantle, as best it can, its aging core. Detroit received righthander Michael Fulmer, its brightest rookie in years, from the Mets in that deal. In an offseason with few starting pitchers available on the free-agent market, a star such as Verlander could bring back an intriguing, and less expensive, package of prospects. Same for Ian Kinsler or outfielder J.D. Martinez.
The dollars might matter now. The Tigers possess a payroll of nearly $200 this season, the third highest in the game behind the Yankees and Dodgers, and a jump of close to $50 million in the past three seasons, according to the Associated Press' tabulations.
It's a level that reflects 87-year-old Tigers owner Mike Ilitch's intense desire to end the franchise's 32-year championship drought, as evidenced by the winter signings of Jordan Zimmermann, Justin Upton and former Twins righthander Mike Pelfrey. But even with Ilitch's eagerness to improve his team, it's probably not a sustainable level of spending in a market that's only one-third the size of New York or Los Angeles.
That's part of the reason that then- Tigers President Dave Dombrowski dealt Cespedes and David Price at the deadline last July before they could become free agents, and it also helps explain why General Manager Al Avila, put in charge when Ilitch fired Dombrowski only days after those trades, made no moves to improve the roster at this year's deadline.
Verlander, who has the right to veto any trade, said he was OK with that.
"I have to commend Mr. Ilitch and Al for putting together what we all thought at the beginning of the year was a great ballclub," he told reporters after his final start of July. "So you look at the big picture, and we have a great nucleus of guys here. I don't think you necessarily have to add anything. … I like this team a lot. I like where we're at."
