Since signing a six-year, $140 million deal with the Tigers, Javy Baez has gone from a two-time All-Star to a part-time player. From a Silver Slugger to a No. 9 hitter. From a Gold Glover to the big-league leader in errors over the last three seasons. This has been his worst season yet.
With the Tigers moving toward a future founded on young talent, have they considered buying Baez out? Would ownership support it?
"We haven't explored that at all," Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris said Thursday on 97.1 The Ticket. "Javy has been working really hard and we’ve been working really hard with him on his swing and his defense to help him recapture the qualities and the performance that earned him this contract in the first place. So we haven't explored that idea yet. We haven't talked about it."
Harris is not to blame for Baez's contract. He inherited it from Al Avila. He did note, however, that after being asked earlier in the interview about the Tigers' timeline to start spending like a contender, "now we’re taking about buying out a player that this organization spent hundreds of millions of dollars signing just a couple years ago."
"It goes back to the point of, we have to be really intentional about how we’re building this. We have to be focused on what the overall vision and strategy is. And we have to time it up so that when we have a core of players, we’re spending around it to make sure that we’re getting to October every single year. We can’t act like there isn’t an interaction between those two things, because I sit at the intersection of them every day."
Baez, though, has been a clear drag on the roster. While his glove is still slick to the eye, his defensive metrics this year are ugly. And his bat is a black hole in lineup that's desperate for more offense. He turns 32 in December and is owed $72 million over the final three seasons of his deal.
"We are not looking to buy out Javy Baez," Harris said. "We’re looking to help him recapture the ability to perform and the attributes that made him one of the better shortstops in baseball, because we could use that guy right now."
The guy they have has a minus-1.0 fWAR this year. Only five big-leaguers with at least 200 plate appearances have been worse, and Baez is only getting older. He's protected, for now, by the fact the Tigers don't have any viable options at shortstop behind him. Ryan Kreidler hasn't been any better when given the chance. Maybe that changes with the arrival of Trey Sweeney, a former first-round pick acquired in the Jack Flaherty trade who will start with the Tigers in Triple-A.
Harris has been insistent that the Tigers won't block their young players with vets. If a shortstop in the system proves worthy of a job in Detroit, Harris and the Tigers will have to revisit their stance on Baez. His contract is a sunk cost. His play is sinking to new lows. The coaching has not helped, especially at the plate. Harris saw Baez at his best when they overlapped with the Cubs, but those years are well in the rearview.
Looking forward, Baez is on borrowed time in Detroit.