The Tigers’ goal is to cut payroll and age from their roster, but they haven’t held active trade talks involving high-priced, 33-year-old first baseman Miguel Cabrera, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman.
“There’s never been anything close,” a source told Heyman in regards to a potential Cabrera trade.
Detroit general manager Al Avila indicated last month that he’d be open to taking offers for Cabrera, though he added that “it would be in [the Tigers’] best interest” to retain the future Hall of Famer. Even if Avila were more willing to part with him, Cabrera’s onerous contract could serve as a significant roadblock. Cabrera still has at least $190MM coming his way through 2024, when he’ll be 41, assuming his employer exercises an $8MM buyout in lieu of picking up a $30MM club option. Regarding the eight-year, $248MM extension then-Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski signed Cabrera to in 2014, a rival GM told Heyman, “Not too many contracts like that one will be given anymore.”
Cabrera also has 10-and-5 rights – meaning he’d be able to veto any trade – but he didn’t rule out playing elsewhere on Saturday, according to Evan Woodbery of MLive.com.
“I love playing in Detroit, I love the city. But the doors are open,” said Cabrera, who added that a trade would have to help the Tigers. “If it’s a good deal, I’ll accept the trade. If the team does not benefit, I prefer to stay in Detroit.”
Cabrera has already been part of one trade in his illustrious career, having gone from the Marlins to the Tigers in a 2007 deal that has worked out brilliantly for Detroit. Since his tenure with the Tigers began in 2008, Cabrera has won two American League MVP awards, gone to seven All-Star games and helped the club to four playoff berths – including a World Series appearance in 2012. Along the way, Cabrera has hit an astounding .325/.404/.573 in 5,929 plate appearances and swatted the second-most home runs in the majors (308, one behind Albert Pujols). Cabrera was his usual excellent self at the plate this past season, slashing .316/.393/.563 with 38 homers in 679 PAs.
Dude is a class act now days.
I hope he stays, might be the best pure hitter I’ve ever watched. But gotta appreciate his willingness to help the team even if it means he goes elsewhere.
Come a long way since the alcohol fuel shenanigans
im a ranger fan but I’ve got to say …the last few years he has been a class act while being one of if not the best pure swings in the game
Best hitter that I have ever seen
Tony Gwynn
Last few years? He’s been choice “1B” to Pujols’ “1A” for best hitter in a generation for over a decade, and leapfrogged Albert 5 years ago.
Yes those two are 1A and 1B if you totally ignore the fact that Manny Ramirez numbers are better than both of them
Would DD be interested?
I doubt it
JV and Miggy to Red Sox for JBJ, Moncada, Swihart, Devers, Owens, and Shaw. Who hangs up first?
Red Sox. If you’re going to take on that much money, there’s much better ways to spend it.
The Red Sox.
miggy is a negative trade asset
he’s definetly not a negative trade asset.
he’s owed 190m for what will certainly be declining years. You’re an angels fan though, so i guess he’d fit your team perfectly.
Im an Braves fan and I “ooooooohhhhhhhh’ed” out loud for that comment. Harsh but true.
Haha good one chesterarthur
That would make the Sox payroll about $250M. Not to mention the Sox giving up that much young, cheap talent. No chance
Only way this is even an option is if Boston can get rid of Pablo and his $17 million contract and Hanley and his $22.7 mill contract. Seeing I don’t see people taking on those contracts is why Boston says no. They already have 2 overpaid vets.
Trader Dave loves big deals. Who cares about the budget or the team getting old?
A guy that makes the worst free agent signing of the past 5 years (THINK $
HanRam was worth the money last year, I like having him around
Easily the Red Sox and they laugh uncontrollably.
The contracts for those two make them much less valuable than the average thinks.
No chance the Sox would do that
So what do the Red Sox need to give up to Land JV and Miggy?
I don’t think the pure player-for-player value is too far off. Granted, Verlander and Miggy could easily regress and be albatross contracts. I agree that the Red Sox probably wouldn’t make that deal…but if the Tigers ate the majority of those contracts (or at least one), then the Red Sox might be game, with some obvious other pieces being thrown in from both sides.
My intention was the Tigers eat some of the salary
Well it really depends on how much. The more money the Tigers eat, the more valuable they are. As is, they’re not worth giving up anything for.
Boston. That’s a laughable offer. Avila isn’t going to eat the contracts when his entire motive this off-season is to….cut…..payroll.
Let’s say Avila eats 10 million a year. He is still cutting around 20 million a year while getting better younger players.
I’m suspicious. No trade talks? Yet rumors from hundreds of different sources? Hmmm
Yankees could handle the contract, have the prospects and have the need at first and DH
go ahead yanks, get u some of that.I would laugh till I hurt…lol
No Yankee fan would ever recommend their team trade for Miggy.
lol…I think they’ve learned their lesson
It’s an ARod contract all over again. Except Miggy doesn’t do steroids.
Why not with that RF porch he would be amazing
im not even commenting on that statement…lol
So how much do the Tigers have to eat to make Miggy worth the prospects they would want? $60-$70MM? Seens very unlikely.
He’s awesome and I love watching him. But that contract isn’t going to be moved without a substantial amount of cash going with it.
I think they’d have to cough up $75-90m to get an elite prospect or two. He is playing at an elite level now, however history shows great regressions for hitters in the later 30s. He will almost certainly be grossly overpaid in the latter portion of the contract.
That being said, I wish the Astros had a package worthy to get him.
Especially someone with a long history of alcohol abuse. You have to expect his body will not last to 40. The overall contract might have been worth it as he is a once in a generation type hitter but the last few years are going to be brutal
I’m pretty sure he has cleaned up his alcohol abuse. When’s the last time you heard of him drinking too much since the DUI? He has gotten in even better shape since then. I think he fixed that
Duda, gselleman, Dominic smith for miggy
If the Tigers are eating a portion of Miggy’s contract, that is not nearly enough. If the Mets are eating most, if not all, of his contract, that’s probably doable.
Agreed. If Detroit want any prospects, they’ll have to eat plenty of that contract. Can’t have both. He’s almost ready to be full time DH and has EIGHT years left.
His defense at 1B is fine. There is no rush to move him to DH. He won’t win a fielding bible award, but he is solid, and has a great throwing arm.
It’s a business, folks. Which market could make the most money from Cabrera? Miami. With JF16 gone (RIP) who is the Latin link?
You know Cabrera is from Venezuela right? Not exactly the same connection to the community as Fernandez…
Nobody will ever replace Jose in that regard. The Marlins do have a Cuban player on their team though (Adeiny Hechavarria), and have elected to refrain from signing many of the ones available in FA.
You may want to include the fact that Cabrera also won a Triple Crown
i cannot believe that wasn’t mentioned. there’s mvp’s and leaders in categories every year. last triple crown winner was yaz in 67, i think. this would be the equivalent of a writers flagrant foul.
Five years ago
So?
So it has nothing to do with his value today
Oh, I forgot they take it away after 5 years.
Not saying that at all, he’s the best hitter in the game, what I am saying is what he did five years ago means nothing today in terms of trade value
If he was 25 that would be different
“In terms” of the writer discussing all the things Miggy has done in Detroit since 2008, it is very relevant
Makes me curious how he is gonna decline. Is his hit tool or power gonna go first? My guess is his power, because he is such a smart talented hitter. Even then, the power he generates with his upper body alone is astounding. With that said, a trade would be very hard to pull off with his salary. And if he starts to decline the tigers might be stuck with that contract forever
i would think that he’s gonna age well. Beautiful swing and is a genious at the plate. tigers should eat some money to trade him for good prospects though
He would be an interesting pickup for the Jays to replace Encarnacion. The Jays have the richest owners in the sport, lead the AL in attendance and have some of the highest prices in tickets, concessions and merchandise. They have television ratings that are through the roof and have a whole country rooting them on. Let’s speculate on a trade: Pillar, Stroman, and their top two pitching prospects Sean Reid Foley and TJ Zeuch. Detroit doesn’t eat any money. Possible?
For pure baseball reasons, if I were the Tigers I’d do that in a second. But it comes down to money and none of us are really in a position to put a dollar value onto what keeping Miggy a Tiger means. No way I’d do that if I were the Jays.
Massive overpay. If the Tigers don’t pay any money down on that contract, then Detroit will not get any top tier prospects much less already great major leaguers back. Now if the Tigers were to pay most of the contract then that could make this more plausible. I still don’t think it would happen though. Loading those parts would be counterproductive to the Jays even if Moggy was great. They’d be much better off just resigning EE or one of the other decent 1B options left.
Trade Cabrera and Tigers will grossly impact their lineup like when the A’s traded Céspedes. Oakland has not been the same, ownership willingness to spend or not…
They would be trading for pieces to help in the future, not for a rental.
If I were the tigers owner or GM, I would trade Cabrera in a heart beat if any team is willing to take on that contract. No prospects needed. A pure contract for player deal.
With the bad taste of Manny Ramirez rapid decline in his mid-30s still in Boston’s memory, I think it would be best that they stay away from Cabrera, Verlander is another story altogether
Manny and Miggy are similar in skin tone and that’s about it. Comparable numbers, but entirely different approaches at the plate, not to mention Miggy isn’t a mental Fukishima that toxified a clubhouse.
He’d look good with the Birds and the Bats on his chest!
Now I like Cabrera as much as any player out there but you got to be some kinda special stupid to give out a contract like that for a player into his 40’s like the Tigers did. How are these teams not learning from all these other horrible contracts that have gone bad too early on? The guy has maybe 4 more years of being very productive and then after that it is a crap shoot for the next 4 years. At the rate of 30 or 32 million a year.
Don’t teams think before they ink a deal? Were they high when they made it? I wouldn’t say to trade him. But it’s not my money.
At the time he signed his deal, that’s what a lot of teams did. Look at what Boston just gave Price, and this was 4 or 5 years after Miggy’s deal. Going forward, these lifetime contracts, will be a thing of the past. 2-3 yr deals will be the norm.
I disagree. Teams will give what the market will bear, and no prime free agent is going to take 2-3 years when the offers are longer. To get to 2-3 years would require an industry-wide tacit agreement to come down to that level–which would certainly approach collusion. I can see opt-outs being refused, and I can see contract length’s migrating down to closer to 5-6 at the topside, but what you are suggesting can’t be accomplished without lawsuits.
Teams will always hand out long contracts. In most scenarios, teams aren’t expecting the player to produce for the entire duration of the contract. Let’s take an 8 year contracr, for example. The signing team hopes that the player can produce at the level that warranted the contract in the first place for at least half the duration. After that, they just hope that the player can play at a slightly above replacement level.
Trade him now , Detroit is going down !
Both Boston and NY will find him an affordable piece for their Lineups .
that contract is insane lol. Worst ever aside from Stanton’s. He’s never going to hold up.
Admittedly, keeping a guy who is a “big draw at the ticket counter” isn’t a great excuse. But, if the Tigers had an age in mind, at which they would not want him anymore, they should’ve signed a shorter deal. Did they do it just to make the headlines?
Mike Illich,who owns the Tigers(and the Detroit Red Wings) also owns lots of property in Detroit. His wife owns one of the casinos there too. The signing of Cabrera to a lifetime contract was a business decision to keep the Tigers a major draw for people to come downtown and spend money. He is a true ambassador for the game and they have sold millions of $$$ of Miggy gear. Illich’s other main goal was to make sure Cabrera went into the Hall of Fame wearing the Old English “D”.
Many say Detroit could have reduced the offer by several millions, but he is a bargain. Since 2008 Miggy has produced over 51 WAR. His total cost to the Tigers will be about $391.5MM. If you figure the average value of WAR since 2008 is $6MM, then he has already “earned” his salary to the end of 2020. He should average at least 2 WAR per year in the last years of his contract and the average value of WAR will go up. Miggy will have earned every penny of his deal. That does not even factor in the value of today’s dollar over the rest of his contract.