This is a project where 30 people got together to act as the GMs of the 30 MLB teams with the idea of conducting the offseason in one week. This is what happened in this simulation, not a prediction of what will happen in real life.
By John Coppinger
I wanted to reboot the Tigers. Get younger, shed some money. I think I did that, but not as much as I wanted to. As long as Jordan Zimmermann remains the worst pitcher in the league, his contract is an albatross. Victor Martinez has one more season and is in steep decline, and the Tigers will have Anibal Sanchez’s buyout, plus Justin Verlander’s and Prince Fielder’s contracts to deal with. But I was able to get younger at second base and get a young pitcher for Nick Castellanos, whose contract was expendable with the trade for Jeimer Candelario. If the actual Tigers shed some payroll, then I think 2019 can be fun for them. But that might not be fair to Ron Gardenhire.
| POSITION | 2017 | 2018 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miguel Cabrera | 1B | $28,000,000 | $30,000,000 |
| Jordan Zimmermann | SP | $18,000,000 | $24,000,000 |
| Victor Martinez | DH | $18,000,000 | $18,000,000 |
| Justin Verlander | SP | $8,000,000 | |
| Prince Fielder | 1B | $6,000,000 | |
| Anibal Sanchez | SP | $16,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
| Kolton Wong | 2B | $4,000,000 | |
| Jose Iglesias | SS | $4,100,000 | $5,600,000 |
| Andrew Romine | 2B | $1,300,000 | $1,900,000 |
| Alex Wilson | SP | $1,175,000 | $2,100,000 |
| Alex Presley | RF | $1,100,000 | |
| Bruce Rondon | RP | $850,000 | $1,200,000 |
| Shane Greene | RP | $1,700,000 | |
| James McCann | C | $552,100 | $2,300,000 |
| Blaine Hardy | LHP | $800,000 | |
| Bryan Holaday | C | $700,000 | |
| Michael Fulmer | SP | $551,900 | $551,900 |
| Kyle Ryan | LHP | $546,400 | $546,400 |
| Daniel Norris | SP | $545,500 | $545,500 |
| Tyler Collins | OF | $555,000 | |
| Matt Boyd | LHP | $555,000 | |
| Mike Mahtook | OF | $555,000 | |
| Jeimer Candelario | 3B | $555,000 | |
| Jacoby Jones | OF | $555,000 | |
| Sean Newcomb | SP | $555,000 |
Total: $117, 373,800
I almost feel like the real Tigers should just release JZ and hope some team picks him up and they get out from the MLB minimum. That’s got to be better than giving him starts.