As the Detroit Tigers enter the month of June, General Manager Al Avila will be listening to offers for some notable players in their free agent seasons.
The Detroit Tigers are speeding rapidly toward a crossroads in 2017 and the future of this season and next will hinge on which way General Manager Al Avila decides to turn the wheel. The team ranks near the top of the league in payroll but has managed just a 23-27 record, good for only fourth place in the American League Central.
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To complicate the issue, the American League Central has been surprisingly competitive this season. The Minnesota Twins look like real contenders and continue to play winning baseball at the top of the division while the Chicago White Sox have experienced a competitive surge after trading fiery starting pitcher Chris Sale in the offseason.
This puts General Manager Al Avila in a very difficult situation. Detroit’s aging and high-priced core of players like Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, Victor Martinez and Justin Upton are virtually untradeable. But with several players approaching free agency, Avila could conceivably rebuild on the fly if the team is on the bubble come the trade deadline.
Here are some the the players that could be on the move as the 2017 trade deadline approaches.