The Detroit Tigers have been mentioned in trade rumors this offseason after the Jose Iglesias injury and while Nick Franklin with the Seattle Mariners may be an option for Rick Porcello, Max Scherzer now could be a potential target for teams like the NY Yankees or Toronto Blue Jays after he rejected a contract extension worth over $140 million before the season.
Scherzer and the Tigers have been working on hammering out a contract extension all offseason and right now he is on a one-year deal worth $15,525,000 so the two sides could avoid arbitration and now it seems like Scherzer will test the market after this season. Scherzer is looking to cash in after winning the Cy Young last season and while the Tigers want to sign him, they do not want to pay an exorbitant amount of money and they have already made multiple trades with Prince Fielder and Doug Fister to help open things up for Scherzer.
According to ESPN.com, Scherzer rejected a "substantial" offer from the Tigers that would have paid him around $24 million a year and with Scott Boras as his agent, Scherzer obviously is looking for every dollar. This offseason Clayton Kershaw signed a record deal and now the 29-year-old is looking like he will hold out until the end of the season to work on contract talks again. The move doesn't mean that Scherzer will get traded or that he will leave the Tigers, but the fact that the deal was for a substantial amount of money and he rejected it doesn't bode too well for the next round of negotiations.
The Tigers already have a ton of money tied up in Justin Verlander after he signed a $180 million, seven-year deal before last season and if they sign Scherzer that would be a huge amount payroll on just two players. Last season Scherzer had his best professional season and ended up 21-3 with a sub 3.00 ERA and now he looks like he is one of the top pitchers in the American League and clearly he hopes to be paid that way. The Tigers could look to deal him if they feel that they will not be able to sign him long term and the Blue Jays could be a fit after they struck out on some pitcher deals in the offseason, while the Yankees and the Mariners could also be in the mix.
Jerry Crasnick from ESPN.com is reporting that the Tigers were the ones to reject a deal from Scherzer that was proposed that could have made him one of the highest paid pitchers in baseball and now the two sides are back to the drawing board with talks tabled until the end of the season. The Tigers could get Rick Porcello involved in a deal for Nick Franklin on the Mariners after Jose Iglesias went down with an injury, as Franklin is a natural shortstop after playing second base last season and he could be expendable after the Mariners signed Robinson Cano. The Tigers have some major decisions to make before the season and they could still pull off a deal for Franklin.
