The Detroit Tigers pulled off a mega deal on Wednesday for Ian Kinsler from the Texas Rangers for Prince Fielder and $30 million and now that could mean an extension is coming for pitcher Max Scherzer, who was himself mentioned in trade rumors earlier in the offseason.
The deal with Fielder likely means that Scherzer will not be dealt and now opens up the door for an extension the year after he won the Cy Young while going 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA. Scherzer is 29-years-old and a Scott Boras client, meaning he likely will be trying to get top dollar, but now that the Tigers have freed themselves up from Fielder's deal, they could have enough money to sign Scherzer and continue on signing players the way they want. Scherzer broke out this season and now he could be with the Tigers long term and in the Fielder deal the team upgraded a huge position of need at second base.
According to ESPN.com, Boras said that before the trade, Scherzer was open to an extension and now the Tigers should be able to get the deal done the way they want after freeing up the salary from Fielder. The team has Nick Castellanos to use at third base now that Miguel Cabrera is moving to first base and that was likely another reason the team wanted a deal, as Cabrera was banged up at the end of the season and now he is more out of harm's way across the diamond. The team has money tied up in Cabrera as well and now the payroll doesn't have two huge contracts holding it down.
The team has Scherzer and Justin Verlander and while the extension for Scherzer would go against what Boras usually does, it still could be very lucrative and since Scherzer is headed into arbitration, the idea makes sense. Fielder was a Boras client as well and now that the big trade has gone down, Scherzer will likely be staying and now he adds to a rotation that also included Anibal Sanchez on an $80 million deal and last season they had the fifth highest payroll at $149 million.
