Forget the Carl Crawford pipe dreams. The only way the Detroit Tigers improve their current roster is going to be through trades or lower cost free agents. Iβm not going to get too much into it because Iβve described who I would go after. The problem I see with the Tigers is they want to operate like a big budget club and they simply donβt have big budget dollars. Then when things go terribly bad (see 2007) they end up having to cut costs.
My solution is still to take flyers on low cost one or two year deals. Someone like Orlando Hudson, Lastings Milledge or Xavier Nady isnβt going to cost you too much to see if they can play and cut bait if they canβt.
The team itself isnβt getting any younger. I know theyβre trying to win now, but they need to be wise with their money. If they break the bank and fail then you have to start from square one and the Tigers donβt have youth down on the farm to start over.