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Arbitration Eligibles: Detroit Tigers
So far in our arbitration eligibles series we've covered all of the AL East: the Orioles, Red Sox, Yankees, Rays, and Blue Jays. Now we take on the AL Central starting with the Tigers.
- First time: Rick Porcello, Max Scherzer, Phil Coke, Don Kelly, Brad Thomas
- Second time: None
- Third time: Delmon Young
I can see the Tigers tendering contracts to all but Thomas. Porcello and Kelly project to be arbitration eligible as Super Twos. Starters Porcello and Scherzer should get nice first-time salaries in the $4MM range. Porcello, especially, is helped by a pre-arbitration salary of $1.536MM owing to the Major League deal he signed out of high school. Kelly might get around $700K, while Coke projects at $1.4MM. Thomas has battled elbow issues for most of the year, and the Tigers tried to outright him but had to put him on the 60-day DL. He's likely to be cut prior to the non-tender deadline.
Young's non-tender candidacy was a factor in his trade to the Tigers. His power has bounced back in 89 plate appearances with Detroit, though he's yet to draw a walk. If you look at Young's current 2011 counting stats - 7 home runs, 49 RBIs, 39 runs - they should lead to a relatively meager raise. We're thinking a $725K bump to a $6.1MM salary, a gamble the Tigers might take if they like what they see for the rest of the year.
If the Tigers retain Jose Valverde for $9MM and tender contracts to all arbitration eligibles, they'd have just under $100MM in 2012 commitments. With a 2011 Opening Day payroll of $107MM, the Tigers would have to trade someone or raise payroll to 2008-10 levels to be able to add a prominent free agent or two.
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