A noisy trade deadline in baseball came and went quietly in Detroit. The Tigers made a small move to send Daniel Norris to the Brewers, but otherwise stood pat. It marked the first time since 2016 that the club wasn't actively selling at the crossroads of the season.
"If anything, we were hoping, you know what, let’s acquire somebody," GM Al Avila said Friday. "But we’re still not in that position yet. We’re in a position where we don’t want to give up some of our prospects and we’re just not in that market yet where we’re competing that way. But that fact that we feel good about where we’re at today and how we’re making good progress without having to tear anything apart, it’s just a good feeling that we’re continuing to build up."
The last time the Tigers were true buyers at the deadline was 2014. That was the year they acquired David Price and Joakim Soria at the expense of prospects like Willy Adames and Cory Knebel. And that was when Dave Dombrowski was general manager and Mike Ilitch was owner and the only thing that mattered to the Tigers was today.
The organization has taken a different stance under Avila and Chris Ilitch. As Avila said Friday, the Tigers are aiming for "long-term sustainability." The future matters as much as the present. The present should regain priority in time, potentially as early as trade deadline 2022.
"I’ve been on both sides of it where you’re trading guys away because you’re not in contention, and I’ve been on the exciting side, which is the side we want to get to, which is acquiring big talent that can help push you over the top," A.J. Hinch said Friday.
Hinch was in Houston when the Astros struck a midnight deal for Justin Verlander at the waiver deadline in 2017. Verlander went on to help Houston win its first World Series in franchise history. On the other side of the deal, the Tigers were heading for the most losses in baseball over the next four seasons. They're finally starting to win again. Maybe next year they can start to add. That's the aim for Hinch.
"When you’re not a team that’s acquiring (at the deadline) it’s not nearly as fun, and we’ve gotta always remember that we want to add. That’s the goal," said Hinch. "Al has referenced that we want to build now. We don’t want to trade for free. I referenced that, too. We’re not just your farm system where you can come and grab players. I hope the next time we talk in a year from now, we’re talking about adding talent."
The Tigers can put pressure on the front office by continuing to win this season. They just completed their third winning month in a row, something they hadn't done since 2016. With Hinch at the helm, a young Astros team shook off six straight losing seasons to make the playoffs in 2015 -- "and all of the sudden over the next 24 months we started to add to the roster," he said last month.
"These teams that go on these runs of success -- and we hope to be one of them -- added over the course of a couple offseasons," said Hinch. "It’s not just a one-time 'add this talent' and all of the sudden you’re there. It’s a roster build, which is why I use that word. And I see that as an opportunity. I said this when I got the job (in Detroit): the young talent is the reason to come here, the key decisions are going to be which players you bring in to surround and nurture that young talent."
One of those decisions could come this winter. A number of stars are slated to hit free agency at a position where the Tigers happen to have a long-term need: shortstop. Avila wouldn't say Friday whether he might be included to pursue a name like Trevor Story or Cory Seager -- or, ahem, Carlos Correa -- because it's "kind of early to really dive into that and project or think about what that could look like."
"We’ll evaluate the organization, as we always have, at the end of the season," Avila said. "We’ll figure out what our biggest needs are, what are the possible free agents out there, what are the possible offseason trades that could develop, and then we’ll go from there."
The present is starting to take precedence again for the Tigers. That was clear in the club's decision to keep pending free agent Jonathan Schoop at the deadline. "It means we’re trying to win today’s game," said Hinch. Eventually, they'll have to do so at the expense of tomorrow. That's when the deadline will be fun again for the Tigers -- and all the more challenging for Avila. He wants to achieve long-term success without having "to give up too much too soon."
"What you’re trying to avoid is, you get there at the Major League level, you’re in the playoffs and then all of the sudden two years later you’re tearing it down," he said. "It’s really a fine line, it’s not easy. And quite frankly, every team gets there and has its challenges for different reasons, so you’ve gotta do it slowly and methodically and just take small steps."
And a big one here and there.