Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski meets with Max Scherzer

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

In yesterday’s post about the hoopla of a new Miguel Cabrera contract, there was this tweet from Ken Rosenthal regarding the Detroit Tigers’ contract “situation” with pitcher Max Scherzer…

According to Chris Iott of MLive.com, Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski met with Scherzer this past week in order “to clear the air following a complex situation”. After it appeared that the sides could not agree on a new deal, the Tigers had issued a statement this past Sunday. The statement read, in part, that negotiations would end until after the 2014 season. Both Dombrowski and Scherzer addressed a throng of media types about this.

Something wasn’t quite right. Another part of the statement stated that Scherzer had rejected what the club deemed as a “substantial offer”. The offer was rumored to be for six years and $144 million. Scherzer’s agent, Scott Boras, denied both of these notions and stated it was the Tigers, not his client, that had pulled the plug on negotiations and a potential deal. Iott says a report mentions that Scherzer was looking for eight years instead of six.

As far as how the meeting between Dombrowski and Scherzer…

Dombrowski told MLive the following:

"I just wanted to make sure he heard from me directly,” Dombrowski told MLive early Thursday evening. “Max Scherzer is a wonderful person. He is a tremendous human being. We think the world of him. We wanted to make sure he knows how highly we think of him."

Dombrowski also told the site that “It’s not anybody’s fault. It’s just the way things are”.
So it’s nobody’s fault that any of this was made public? I know we live in a day and age where fans want to be in the know on every aspect of their favorite team. Yes, media has their sources, but let that play out instead of injecting yourself (and your organization) into a potentially negative PR situation. I can’t find much fault on how Dombrowski has handled things since arriving in Detroit, but this is one that’s not on the plus side of his ledger.

Here’s an idea (and I’m no PR person): Why not tell Tigers fans and the media that negotiations were still ongoing (even though they weren’t) or even stalled. No terms of any offers need to be made public. If any “rumors” make their way into the interwebs, simply do what we hear everyday” “No comment”.

Sure, you most likely won’t be believed by the masses in issuing that statement, but at the very least, you’re saving the integrity of the process. You’re keeping matters in-house.

Scherzer will become a free agent after this season, so if the Tigers wish to keep in the Motor City, they will have that window after the World Series. The San Francisco Giants utilized that same window in order to work out deals for Tim Lincecum and Hunter Pence before they hit the free agent market. There’s no reason to believe the Tigers and Scherzer cannot do the same.

Unless, that is, there could be some leftover effects from this ordeal.