No Way, Jose!
The worst possible news has been declared and now confirmed, Jose Iglesias is likely to miss the entire 2014 Detroit Tigers season. What was thought to be ‘shin splints’ has now been diagnosed as bilateral tibial stress fractures in both legs. Iglesias will be relegated to non-impact training, such as swimming and upper body conditioning, and will be evaluated after 4 months. The news on Iglesias’ situation has poured gasoline on the news of Detroit Tigers trade rumors. Not even the announcement of the new “Poutine Dog” could satisfy the hunger of Tigers fans. It’s been 30 years since the “Bless You Boys” championship, and just one World Series win in 46 seasons. I want to look forward to eating one of these in late October!
Tigers selling a Poutine hot dog with french fries, cheese curds & beef gravy for $7 this season (H/T @Bill_Shea19) pic.twitter.com/a3aN9Oc5v4
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) March 19, 2014
Options
Dombrowski and Ausmus continue to publicly state that they will pursue internal options, all while DD is on the phone with several teams. Actions speak louder than words. Of course, he could just be doing his job and evaluating options, which is what we would expect him to do. As outlined in our previous story, the Tigers have some interesting options for acquiring players from other teams…and the lone shortstop remaining on the open market.
As we see it, there are two possible scenarios to approaching the 2014 season…
Scenario 1:
The Tigers proceed with internal options. This would likely be in the form of Danny Worth or Eugenio Suarez filling the gap. Since the Central is expected to be Detroit’s for the taking, they could ride out the season with this solution. If June comes along and they are not satisfied with the internal option, they could make a play for Drew (or any other outside option) after the draft has taken place. This would free the club from the obligation to surrender a draft pick.
Scenario 2:
Detroit chooses to deal now. As the team continues to suffer from the injury bug, they could choose to go directly to an option that is outside of the organization. There are already holes to fill, so just how many can be occupied by the current roster? There are reports of Dombrowski placing and fielding calls over the past week, supposedly before we knew the extent of the injury to Jose Iglesias. Speculation has been that they will bite the bullet and sign Stephen Drew, making another deal with the baseball devil, Scott Boras. Unlikely.
After logic struck down that plan of attack, pundits began to shift the focus onto the outcast in Philly, Jimmy Rollins…also unlikely. Rollins has already stated that he will not waive his no-trade clause to join Detroit. At least not until he reaches the 60 hits to become the Phillies’ all-time hit leader, and even then it’s questionable, Rollins said “If we’re in absolutely last place with nowhere to go and change is obviously on the horizon, then at that point I’d think about it. But anything short of a complete disaster, I’m wearing red and white pinstripes.” Even if he were to waive his rights, do the Tigers want him? He is making $11m this season, and if he makes 434 plate appearances in 2014, another $11m will be due to the 35 year-old next year. The answer is an emphatic, “NO”.
We still contend that Didi Gregorius makes the most sense. He’s young, cheap, sound, and sitting on a bench in Arizona. He was to be their shortstop of the future, but a strong showing by Chris Owings has changed that. Owings’ spring performance has handed him the starting role, but is that situation stable? The Dbacks think so. Why not strike now while the iron is hot, and Owings is still the darling of spring? Why wait for them to be in crisis mode if Owings stumbles in the regular season? Making a move for Didi would also give the Tigers flexibility heading into 2015, with Iglesias’ long-term condition being in question. Dombrowski said that he should be “OK”. Yeah, he should’ve been ok this year, and he’s not playing.
Wrap up
For as many teams there are in the league, you will find as many rumors of a move in the works with Detroit. Along with those we’ve stated previously, Kevin Franklin, Nate Schierholtz and Darwin Barney are just a few of the names making the rounds. With injuries to Dirks, Iglesias, Davis, and Sanchez, something is going to happen. The season isn’t going to wait. Whatever it is, all we have to say is “GO TIGERS!”.
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What direction should the Tigers take?
What would you do if you were Dave Dombrowski?
