Tigers Exec VP/Baseball Operations & GM Al Avila is changing the team's business model, a "daunting challenge, and this offseason is only the first step in the process," according to Chris McCosky of the DETROIT NEWS. The team's days of buying $100M free agents "are over, for now." Avila said, "We're trying to turn it around and accumulate more young prospects." But McCosky notes what Avila is "embarking on with the Tigers this offseason is not a fire sale." Avila yesterday at the MLB GM meetings said, "It's a change in philosophy in how we do business." He added, "You just can't keep on adding and adding. Eventually, you end up with a $300 million payroll. That's not the way to operate ... We're trying to make this organization good for the long run, not the short run." The Tigers payroll projection for '17 is roughly $216M and the luxury tax threshold is $189M, though it is "expected to rise" -- possibly above $200M -- with a new CBA (DETROIT NEWS, 11/9). In Detroit, Anthony Fenech notes the Tigers this past season "surpassed the luxury-tax limit and were penalized 17.5%." If they "surpass that amount again" in '17, the penalty "will rise to 30%." Avila said of the team's salary figure, "A hard number is not something that I'm looking at. I'm just looking at starting the process, and it might take us where it's not that much, it might take us where it's more than you would think" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 11/9).
THINGS TO MANEUVER: Fenech wrote the Tigers' cost-cutting process will "continue this off-season and into next season, perhaps the season after that." If the second-year GM is "unable to trade the team's less desirable pieces, it could be a painful process, parting ways with faces of the franchise" like P Justin Verlander or 1B Miguel Cabrera. What Avila "does know is the Tigers must cut payroll," perhaps by as much as $20M. Tigers fans have "grown accustomed" to Owner Mike Ilitch "opening his pocketbook in an attempt to win an elusive World Series, which hasn't worked." Now Avila is "faced with the tall task of keeping the team competitive without the financial freedom of years past" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 11/8).
