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The Detroit Tigers have won three straight American League Central titles, as they have sandwiched ALCS eliminations around an AL pennant in 2012 that saw them swept by the San Francisco Giants in the World Series.

Despite that recent run of success, they parted ways with a pair of key contributors this offseason, trading Prince Fielder and Doug Fister with an eye on saving money for future extensions for Max Scherzer and Miguel Cabrera.

Ian Kinsler was acquired from the Texas Rangers in the Fielder trade, and he gives the lineup a completely different outlook out of the top spot. The team also signed All-Star closer Joe Nathan and appears ready to turn an everyday job over the Nick Castellanos.

Drew Smyly will move from the bullpen to the rotation to replace Fister, with Ian Krol and Joba Chamberlain joining Nathan as newcomers in the bullpen.

Through all of that shuffling, they still look like the team to beat in the AL Central and one of the best all-around teams in the American League. Time will tell if they can get over the hump and win it all this season.

For now, the team is in Lakeland, Fla. preparing for the upcoming season. We’ll use the following space to track the latest game results and other key news on a daily basis, so be sure to check back here for all the latest Tigers news leading up to Opening Day.

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While there haven’t been many trades this offseason that involved high-profile prospects, teams have been quietly filling holes on their respective 25- and 40-man rosters with under-the-radar deals for displaced prospects.

For example, the Oakland A’s acquired minor league outfielder Billy Burns from the Washington Nationals in exchange for left-hander Jerry Blevins during the winter meetings.

This past season, Burns, a switch-hitter, was named the Nationals’ Minor League Player of the Year after batting .315/.425/.383 with 96 runs scored, nine triples, 74 stolen bases in 81 attempts and a stellar 54-72 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 540 plate appearances between High-A Potomac and Double-A Harrisburg.

Another example can be seen in the San Diego Padres‘ recent acquisition of infielder Ryan Jackson from the Houston Astros.

Jackson, 25, came up through the St. Louis Cardinals system and actually saw time in the majors, albeit briefly, during the 2012 and 2013 seasons. But he struggled to demonstrate value as reserve infielder, batting a combined .083 with five strikeouts in 25 plate appearances between both years.

Still, Jackson batted .275/.343/.371 with 42 doubles, 13 home runs and a 166-95 strikeout-to-walk ratio over the last two season at Triple-A Memphis. He also showed the ability to play three infield positions during that span, even logging seven games in left field last season. So it’s not a surprise that the Padres, a team that needs more infield depth, took a flier on the 25-year-old.

Here’s a look at two more under-the-radar prospects who could impact the trade market this winter.

Jordan Lennerton, 1B, Detroit Tigers

Although it took Jordan Lennerton four seasons to graduate from A-ball, the 27-year-old may find himself in the major leagues at some point next year.

This past season, the left-handed-hitting first baseman batted .278/.382/.430 with 17 home runs and a 133-84 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 607 plate appearances at Triple-A Toledo. In 2012, he hit a career-high 21 home runs with Double-A Erie. In July, Lennerton was selected to play for the World Team in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game.

Lennerton has average power potential with enough bat speed to handle good velocity, but he struggles against quality secondary pitches. However, his knack for mashing right-handed pitching suggests he has value in a platoon role. This past season, he batted .286/.381/.438 with 14 home runs and a 107-62 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 406 at-bats against righties.

With Miguel Cabrera moving across the infield from third to first base next season, Lennerton’s best chance at reaching the majors with Detroit will come as a reserve. At the same time, he could be an attractive platoon option for an American League team that has a right-handed-hitting first baseman or designated hitter.

Jesus Aguilar, 1B, Cleveland Indians

Like Lennerton, Jesus Aguilar is first base-only prospect whose future in the major leagues is entirely dependent on the utility of his power.

The 23-year-old held his own at Double-A Akron over parts of the 2012 and 2013 season, combining to bat .277/.356/.436 with 19 home runs, 118 RBI and a 131-69 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 654 plate appearances (150 games).

The Indians decided not to add Aguilar to their 40-man roster following the 2012 season, and he luckily went unselected in the Rule 5 draft. The organization wasn’t willing to take the same risk this year, adding him to the 40-man roster next month.

Aguilar has posted monster numbers this offseason playing in the Venezuelan Winter League, and it’s hard to imagine he hasn’t caught the attention of other teams, with a .996 OPS and 17 home runs through 54 games.

Surprisingly, Aguilar fares better against same-sided pitching than he does left-handers, as he batted .285/.354/.461 with 22 doubles and 13 home runs against righties in 2013. So don’t go labeling him as a platoon-only player just yet.

With Nick Swisher likely to open the 2014 season as the Indians’ first baseman, the displaced Aguilar could be an interesting trade target for a team needing right-hander pop at first base or DH.

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For the first time in what feels like forever, there’s no doubt about who will be taking care of things in the ninth inning for the Detroit Tigers. Rather than a day-by-day question mark, the club now has a clear strength at the closer position.

To a certain degree, anyway.

Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi of FOXSports.com were the first to report on Tuesday that the Tigers were closing in on a deal for veteran closer Joe Nathan. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com has reported that the two sides are in agreement on a two-year contract:

Ken Rosenthal has the financial terms:

It’s not a shocker that Nathan has been drawn to the Tigers. It was just a couple of weeks ago that he professed his love for the organization on MLB Network Radio. Via MLB.com’s Jason Beck:

I definitely love the Tigers, know them very well, having competed against that squad for so many years when I was with the Twins, knowing some of the guys over there, knowing how deep they are, rotation deep. Their lineup and offense obviously are impressive. I think one of the things is that their defense has definitely improved. It’s a good ballpark to play in, a good crowd to play in front of. Detroit’s definitely a very appealing and attractive team to look at, I think.

The 39-year-old right-hander has spent the last two years closing games for the Texas Rangers. And since the Rangers declined to make Nathan a qualifying offer, signing him doesn’t mean a lost draft pick for the Tigers.

That’s not to say there aren’t any strings attached to this deal, however. It’s coming less than 24 hours after the Tigers traded right-handed starter Doug Fister to the Washington Nationals for spare parts. They saved themselves from having to pay Fister a raise of a couple million dollars in arbitration, and it looks like that money is being rerouted into a contract for Nathan instead.

If that’s the case, it’s hard to see the logic. Even swapping out an average starter for a closer isn’t such a good idea. Swapping out one of the game’s best starting pitchers for a closer is certainly not a good idea.

But sure, we can be optimistic for a moment or two. While swapping out Fister for Nathan doesn’t look so great, it has to be granted that the Tigers are better off in the ninth inning now than they were before.

Ever since Jose Valverde went 49-for-49 in save opportunities in 2011, the Tigers’ issues at closer have been well-documented. Valverde’s ERA rose from 2.24 in 2011 to 3.78 in 2012, and he pitched himself out of a job with a series of rotten performances in the postseason.

Things were better in 2013…Sort of.

After some early uncertainty, Joaquin Benoit took over Detroit’s closer role in June and finished the season with a 1.98 ERA and 22 saves in 24 tries in his final 41 appearances. But both of his blown saves came in the final week of the regular season, and he was the one who gave up David Ortiz’s series-shifting grand slam in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.

Now along comes Nathan, who brings with him one of the most impressive closer resumes in major-league history.

With Mariano Rivera retired, Nathan is MLB’s active saves leader with 341, and he’s the only member of the 300-save club with fewer than 40 career blown saves (he has 38). For some perspective, Nathan has as many career saves as Hall of Fame member Rollie Fingers, but 29 fewer blown saves.

Then there’s what Nathan did in 2013. Courtesy of FanGraphs, here are the key numbers:

The 1.39 ERA Nathan posted was the second lowest of his career after the 1.33 ERA he posted in 2008, and that 2.5 fWAR was his best since 2006.

That 2.5 fWAR also put Nathan in elite company among his contemporaries. It tied him for third among qualified relievers, behind only Greg Holland and Koji Uehara, and ahead of Craig Kimbrel.

To be fair to Benoit, he had a darn good season in his own right, finishing with a 2.01 ERA and a 1.6 fWAR that tied him for ninth among qualified relievers. When Benoit had the ball, the Tigers were quietly in pretty good hands right up until he ran out of gas at the end of the season.

Based on both track records and 2013 performance, however, going from Benoit to Nathan is undeniably a significant upgrade for the Tigers. One way to put it is that they’ve gone from solid closer to “proven closer.”

If you’re looking for the inevitable catch, however, here it is: Nathan shouldn’t be expected to be the otherworldly dominant closer he was in 2013 all over again in 2014.

The Steamer projections for Nathan, which you can view at FanGraphs, see his ERA going from 1.39 to 2.70 and his WAR from 2.5 to 0.8. “Regression” is the word that fits, and it’s fair to expect Nathan to experience some of that regardless of the numbers he ends up with.

As good as Nathan is, his 2013 season was a classic case of everything going right all at once. Here are a couple of things that stand out:

Since line drives are more likely to result in hits than any other type of batted ball, it doesn’t make sense that Nathan’s BABIP decreased despite a line-drive percentage much higher than usual. It also doesn’t make sense that he saw so few fly balls go over the fence despite a relatively normal fly-ball percentage. 

Especially not in light of Nathan’s more recent history. From 2008 to 2012, his HR/FB rate was over nine percent each year, and rising to boot. He did add a sinker to his arsenal along the way, but it didn’t play that much of a role in 2013.

Per Brooks Baseball, Nathan’s sinker only accounted for about 15 percent of his pitches. And while it did pick up more ground balls than his four-seamer, his sinker didn’t get in the way of him posting one of the lowest ground-ball rates of his career at an even 32 percent.

Elsewhere, it also doesn’t make much sense that Nathan’s strikeout rate finished above his career norm despite a swinging-strike rate below his career norm. Contributing to the suspicion is how, according to Brooks Baseball, the whiff/swing rate on Nathan’s four-seamer rose even while its velocity fell.

For that matter, the velocity on all of Nathan’s pitches—four-seamer, sinker, slider and curveball—fell in 2013. He still has good stuff as far as stuff goes, but hardly overpowering stuff relative to other closers and, indeed, what he used to feature.

For what it’s worth, the 0.8 fWAR that Steamer is projecting for Nathan in 2014 is twice as good as the 0.4 fWAR projected for Benoit, so the notion that the Tigers are better off at closer now than they were before still stands.

It’s also worth noting that Nathan’s projected fWAR is better than those projected for Fernando Rodney, Grant Balfour and Brian Wilson. The Tigers went after the best closer they could have possibly acquired on the free-agent market, and that’s what they should get in 2014.

To that end, the Tigers’ agreement with Nathan is a case of mission accomplished.

But because it’s hard to imagine Nathan repeating the season he had in 2013, this agreement is less than a slam dunk destined to go down as one of general manager Dave Dombrowski’s all-time greatest moves. And while Nathan is a fine addition to Detroit’s bullpen, it’s hard to say with a straight face that it looks like a better overall team after parting with Fister on Monday.

The Tigers may have a shiny new closer lined up for 2014, but they’re not better positioned to win the World Series than they were a day ago.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked.

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.

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Ernie Banks. Pete Rose. Rod Carew. Robin Yount. Paul Molitor.

The common thread may seem obvious—they’re all Hall of Famers (with the exception of Rose, of course). But there’s something else that ties them together, and it’s something that may end up being very relevant to your Detroit Tigers.

Each of them, from Banks to Molitor, started as a middle infielder. And each of them would abandon that position and move to other places on the diamond and further their Hall-worthy careers.

What does this have to do with the Tigers? Let’s just say that you might not want to get too comfortable with the idea of a double-play combination of shortstop Jose Iglesias and second baseman Ian Kinsler, the latter acquired last week from the Texas Rangers for Prince Fielder.

Kinsler is 31 years old. Already there are signs that age could be rearing its head with Kinsler, at least in the form of stolen base output.

Age and middle infielders are usually not a good mix, Omar Vizquel notwithstanding.

The Tigers may have—emphasis on “may have”—traded for Kinsler with the idea that he could move elsewhere, such as the outfield, or first base.

Some history, first.

Banks broke into the big leagues with the Chicago Cubs in 1953 as a shortstop. By 1962, his tenth season, the Cubs had moved the 31-year-old Banks to first base, where he pretty much played the rest of his career (including past his 40th birthday). Banks played 1,259 games at 1B, and 1,125 at SS.

Rose was a rookie in 1963, age 22. He debuted as a second baseman for the Cincinnati Reds. By 1967, at age 26, the Reds shifted Rose to the outfield. He would spend the next 10-12 years moving all around the diamond, eventually settling at first base. Rose played 24 years, but only 628 games at 2B, his so-called “natural” position.

Carew broke in with the Minnesota Twins as a 21-year-old second baseman in 1967. In 1976, at age 30, Carew was playing first base, and he never looked back.

Yount was an 18-year-old rookie with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1974, arriving on the scene as a shortstop. But by 1985, before his 30th birthday, the Brewers moved Yount to the outfield.

Molitor was 21 years old when he broke into the bigs with the Brewers as a second baseman in 1978, functioning as Yount’s double-play partner. A mere three years later, the Brewers moved Molitor—first to the outfield, then in 1982 to third base, which would be his position until 1990, when Molitor became mostly a designated hitter for the last nine years of his illustrious career.

It would be a big shock to me if the Tigers see Kinsler as their everyday second baseman much beyond 2016. By that time, Kinsler would be 34 years old.

Ah, but what about the greatest DP combo in history, you might ask—our own Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker?

It’s more than fair to bring them up.

Tram and Lou never budged from their original positions, though the former did spend a handful of games in the outfield, at second base and at third base. Trammell played until age 38. Whitaker never played anything other than second base in a career that spanned from 1977 to 1995 (also age 38).

But let’s face it: Trammell and Whitaker are anything but the norm—in so many different ways.

The good news is that, as we have seen, switching positions for the aforementioned Hall of Famers took nothing away from their offense. And their move from the middle infield came relatively early in their respective careers—all within the first 10 years.

Kinsler is entering his ninth season, and he’s played all but two innings in his defensive career at second base (the other two innings were at third base, in 2012)—over 1,000 games as a second baseman.

He’s ripe for a position change.

It could be that Dave Dombrowski traded for Kinsler with an eye toward having Kinsler wear another type of glove. It could be that second base may be the territory of Hernan Perez before long. Kinsler may find himself at first base, and Miguel Cabrera could be a full-time DH.

Or Kinsler could move to the outfield, a la Yount.

Yes, acquiring Kinsler was a short-term move as the Tigers are in a “win now” mode. But while Kinsler may be an oldish second baseman, the Tigers could flip him into a youngish outfielder or first baseman.

Stay tuned.

Note: All stats referenced in this article are from www.retrosheet.org and www.baseball-reference.com

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The Detroit Tigers were linked to seemingly every “proven closer” under the sun last winter. In the end, general manager Dave Dombrowski moved to acquire none of them.

The closer search is on again this winter. This time, however, it sounds like Dombrowski sees a guy he actually likes: Brian Wilson.

According to Lynn Henning of the Detroit News, the Tigers are “moving towards a possible deal” with the 31-year-old right-hander, formerly of the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers. In related news, Henning also noted that the Tigers have been “aggressively hunting” a closer, preferably one with a “younger, more dynamic arm” than that of the 36-year-old Joaquin Benoit. 

Color me fascinated. More to the point, color me…well, nodding my head in approval if you can manage that level of artisticness (trademark pending).  

It’s hard to pass complete judgment on the Tigers’ apparent interest in Wilson without knowing any terms. But since Dombrowski declined to chase Rafael Soriano last winter and is apparently fixing to sign Wilson over Joe Nathan this winter, I feel safe in speculating that the terms would be modest. Dombrowski may want a closer, but he doesn’t seem dumb enough to pay “proven closer” prices.

In this case, paying a more subdued price for Wilson to step in as the club’s closer is easily justified. He’s a guy who absolutely has the goods to outperform a modestly priced contract.

We naturally have to start with how Wilson performed in 2013. He started his comeback from a 2012 Tommy John operation—unfortunately not his first—in August, and quickly gathered steam.

When it was all over, he did this in the regular season and the postseason:

The “DANGER: SMALL SAMPLE SIZE” caveat applies here. A total of 19.2 innings isn’t a whole lot. Certainly not enough to draw definitive conclusions about a guy. If it were, Wilson would be drawing a ton more interest as a free agent than he seems to be.

But still, wow. That’s one earned run allowed in 24 appearances, and a strikeout rate that stands tall over his 24.8 career mark. And for a guy who hadn’t pitched in over a year, an 8.2 walk rate is pretty darned impressive.

In addition, Wilson was keeping the ball on the ground quite a bit. Per FanGraphs, his regular-season GB percent was 56.3. In the postseason, it was 71.4.

Never mind the ERA and the WHIP. The strikeouts, walks and ground balls represent the really exciting aspect of Wilson’s comeback. There’s only so much a pitcher can do to control how much success he has, but striking batters out, limiting walks and keeping the ball on the ground is about as good a recipe for success as there is.

Can Wilson keep this up? That depends on what or whom you ask.

If you ask a what, your best move is to consult some sort of projection system. Steamer’s a good one, and if we pluck Wilson’s Steamer projections for 2014 from FanGraphs and compare them to his 2013 production, we get:

In other words: No, Wilson’s not going to be an absolutely dominant pitcher again in 2014.

ZiPS is another good projection system, but, alas, it would seem that ZiPS maestro Dan Szymborski is keeping the figures to himself for the time being.

However, Szymborski did chime in on Twitter:

In other words, the same refrain: No, Wilson’s not going to be an absolutely dominant pitcher again in 2014.

Lackluster projections admittedly aren’t the only reasons to be skeptical about Wilson. One thing I noticed is that 11 of his 21 strikeouts were of the looking variety. That’s over 50 percent, a figure that demolishes his pre-2013 rate of 31 percent and the 2013 league average of 24 percent. My powers of logic tells me that’s going to be a hard feat to repeat.

Then there’s Wilson’s fastball velocity. Per FanGraphs, the Baseball Info Solutions data says he worked in the 95-96 range in his heyday in 2009-2010. In 2011, a year during which he told the San Francisco Chronicle he was pitching with considerable elbow pain, he averaged 94.3 miles per hour.

But in 2013? Just 93.2 miles per hour.

So why be optimistic?

One reason is that decreased velocity didn’t mean a decreased ability to miss bats in 2013. It’s a small sample size number, but FanGraphs has his 2013 swinging-strike percentage at 9.2 percent. That’s a tick higher than his career rate of 8.9 percent.

Wilson kept it up in the postseason. Though it doesn’t see such things exactly the same way that FanGraphs does, Baseball-Reference.com says that Wilson’s swinging-strike percentage in October was 12 percent.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, there was something else going on: Wilson was reaching back for some extra velocity. As Brooks Baseball can vouch, there was a spike in Wilson’s heat in October. He was regularly throwing 95 miles per hour.

Maybe that was Wilson’s old arm strength returning to him. Or maybe it was just adrenaline. Either way, it’s a sign that his old mid-90s velocity isn’t ancient history even after two Tommy John surgeries. Even if he can only do so on occasion, his elbow can still handle getting the ball up there in a real hurry.

If you’re worried that he can’t do so all the time, well, don’t be. There’s more to pitching than velocity, after all. Pitch selection, for example, is sort of important.

Speaking of that, did you notice the trend at play when you went and looked at Wilson’s velocity earlier? If not, well, this is it right here:

As time has gone on, Wilson has become less and less dependent on his heat and more and more dependent on his cutter. And after teasing an extremely cutter-heavy approach in the two appearances he made in 2012, he picked up where he left off upon his return in 2013.

Wilson also has a two-seamer in addition to a classic four-seam fastball. It’s a pitch he unveiled to much acclaim in 2011. And between the regular season and the postseason, Brooks Baseball says that Wilson threw his two-seamer almost as often as he threw his four-seamer in 2013.

Nothing forces a pitcher to reinvent himself quite like leaking velocity. That’s exactly what Wilson has done, moving away from a pitcher who got by on velocity and toward a pitcher who is going to get by on movement.

To study said movement, we shall go to the video.

Here’s one of Wilson getting Carlos Beltran looking on a cutter on the outside corner:

And if you watch to the end of this video, you’ll see a two-seamer that got Juan Perez looking:

That cutter? Pretty good.

That two-seamer? Also pretty good.

And since it’s there to be noted, the control to put those pitches where they were put? Another pretty good thing. Maybe not 50-percent-looking-strikeouts good, mind you, but pretty good.

Here at the end, we re-acknowledge that the absurd numbers that Wilson compiled in his comeback are extremely unlikely to happen again. There’s a lot going right, and then there’s a bit too much going right. Wilson’s comeback was a case of the latter.

But since Wilson compiled those absurd numbers with the cunning use of filthy-moving pitches and good location that got him lots of strikeouts and ground balls and kept his walks at a decent rate, there’s plenty to like about how he attacked his comeback. And that, in turn, means there’s plenty to like about him going forward.

Even if the terms end up being less modest than one figures they will be, Dombrowski and the Tigers have their eyes on a darn fine choice for their closer role.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Anyone remember the ALCS this year?

Anybody?

If you do remember, your memory is that it was a very, very close series. It sounds silly, but it was probably the closest series ever that didn’t go to seven games.

You’ll also remember the Detroit Tigers blowing the series because of their bullpen. That bullpen needs help if the Tigers want to finally win a World Series. Here are four relievers they should sign.

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Max Scherzer is on the verge of winning the American League Cy Young Award. Is he also on the verge of being traded?

“On the verge” might be a bit strong, given that a top-of-the-rotation arm like Scherzer—the favorite to be named the Junior Circuit’s top pitcher for the 2013 season on Wednesday—isn’t exactly the type of asset that a team with World Series aspirations like the Detroit Tigers just up and deals.

Then again, the team has made it known that it’s listening to offers for the 29-year-old, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. That’s attributable to the right-hander’s looming free agency after 2014. So if the Tigers don’t think they can ink Scherzer long-term, a trade could make sense.

The other reason general manager Dave Dombrowski might be up for moving Scherzer is to deal from a strength (i.e., the rotation) to bring back a return that would help the Tigers in their multiple areas of need, namely second base, outfield, catcher and bullpen.

Realize, though, that the Tigers are in win-now mode, coming off three straight AL Central crowns and having been on the doorstep of a championship the past couple years. In other words, if—and it’s still a big if—they’re going to move Scherzer, it’s probably not going to happen for two or three prospects who are a year or two away. They’re more likely to want players who can bolster their 25-man roster right away in 2014 and make the club younger and cheaper.

The cost to acquire will be rather high given Scherzer‘s incredible performance. After all, we’re talking about a guy who posted a 2.90 ERA and AL-leading 0.97 WHIP with 10.1 K/9 while also winning 21 games.

Money, though, could be a potential hurdle here, as Scherzer‘s salary is estimated to double from the $6.725 he earned in 2013 to somewhere in the range of $13-14 million in his final go-round at arbitration. And of course, the fact that his agent is Scott Boras, whose clients generally don’t sign extensions before hitting the open market, will only further complicate matters, as any interested parties will be hesitant to give up too much for only one year.

As such, two criteria seem like requirements when it comes to determining which clubs might fit the bill as a trade partner: First, the teams must be contenders ready to make a World Series push next year; and second, there should also be a need for a front-of-the-rotation arm to lead or enhance a staff.

Of course, it wouldn’t hurt for inquiring teams to have the funds to at least be able to offer Scherzer a nine-figure extension, if a deal is contingent upon such a pact.

Although it may seem unlikely that Scherzer will be traded, primarily because he’s been a key part of the Tigers’ success the past few seasons and should be again next year, a freshly minted Cy Young winner was, in fact, swapped just last offseason.

Not quite a year ago, the New York Mets sent R.A. Dickey to the Toronto Blue Jays last December for a package of prospects, including catcher Travis d’Arnaud and right-hander Noah Syndergaard.

There’s a key difference with Scherzer, though: The Tigers are on the opposite end of the competition cycle from the rebuilding Mets.

Whether Scherzer will prove to be the latest ace on the move remains to be seen, but given all of the above circumstances and factors, here’s a batch of teams who are most likely to pursue him—and have the means to get a deal done.

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The starting rotation of the Detroit Tigers is one of the best in baseball. It had the most wins (76), the lowest ERA (3.44) and the least homers allowed in the American League last season while leading the majors in innings pitched and strikeouts.

And Cy Young Award candidate Max Scherzer, who the Tigers are reportedly willing to trade in the right deal this offseason, was probably the biggest reason why. 

Take him out of the equation, and the Tigers are left with a gaping hole in their rotation. Replacing his 23 wins (including two in the playoffs), 2.90 ERA and 16 starts (including two in the playoffs) of at least seven innings with no more than two earned runs allowed is no easy task.

In fact, it’s probably impossible unless they were able to sign free agent Ervin Santana, who also had 14 regular-season starts of at least seven innings with no more than two earned runs allowed. And even that wouldn’t be the same because Santana doesn’t strike out nearly as many hitters as Scherzer.

Maybe Masahiro Tanaka, who’s expected to be posted from the Japanese League later this offseason, is capable of picking up the slack. Maybe not is more likely. Pitchers like that are few and far between, and the price would be outrageous for a guy who might be able to fill Scherzer‘s shoes. 

But that’s exactly why the Tigers are willing to shop the 29-year-old Scherzer a year before he’s eligible for free agency. Unless the Tampa Bay Rays trade David Price, it’s likely that he’d be the best starting pitcher acquisition of the offseason, and the return could be huge.

If they don’t feel that a contract extension can be worked out, it wouldn’t hurt to at least find out what one season of his services would bring them back in a trade. 

When rumors first surfaced last month after Danny Knobler of CBS Sports first reported a Scherzer trade as having a “real chance,” I named five potential suitors and the trade package it would take for each team to acquire him.  

Each package contained a very good prospect or two and, in most cases, a pitcher who could help the big league club in 2014. For an organization with a weak farm system and needs in the bullpen, these types of deals would need to be explored.

Pulling the trigger on one of those types of deals, however, could be disastrous for a team that has averaged 92 regular-season wins and has reached the ALCS in three consecutive seasons.

Even if it’s a move that can be viewed as necessary for the future success of the organization, taking a major step back during any season in which stars Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Justin Verlander are still in the prime of their careers could be viewed as a lost opportunity. 

Lefty Drew Smyly (pictured), who is next in line for a rotation spot in Detroit, is deserving of a shot. And it wouldn’t be a surprise if he were much better than the average No. 5 starter. The problem is how it affects the rotation as a whole.

Verlander, as he proved late in the season and throughout the playoffs, is still one of the best pitchers around and one of a few true “aces” in the game. Anibal Sanchez, whose spectacular season (14-8, 2.57 ERA, 2.7 walk rate, 10.0 strikeout rate) was overshadowed by Scherzer‘s win total, would follow him in the rotation. He’s a very capable No. 2, especially if 2013 wasn’t a fluke. But he may have been the best No. 3 in baseball. 

Doug Fister is in the same boat. One of the best No. 4 starters in baseball but only pretty good as a No. 3. It’s also hard to complain about having Rick Porcello as your fifth starter. But a guy with a career 4.51 ERA as the No. 4 starter doesn’t speak well for the overall state of the rotation. 

Of course, it’s possible for general manager Dave Dombrowski to sign one of the second-tier free-agent starters, such as Dan Haren or Bartolo Colon, to preserve the little rotation depth the Tigers have and keep Smyly in the pen for now. The drop-off wouldn’t be as severe, and he could look to upgrade in another area of the roster to try to make up for the rotation downgrade. 

The risk in heading into the season without the strength of the team intact, however, is much greater than in years past.

In 2012, the Tigers allowed much less talented teams in the division to hang around longer than necessary before pulling away late in the season. This year, the competition from the Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals was heated, and Detroit barely held on to edge out Cleveland for the division title. 

Things won’t get any easier in 2014, as the young core of talent on those same two teams should continue to get better and the other two division opponents, the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins, have lots of payroll space and are each capable of making a splash this winter. 

It’s difficult to stay on top as the Tigers have done for the past three seasons. The offseason planning of their rivals likely revolves around what they need to do to knock the champions off the top. It can also be difficult to get back on top after you’ve fallen—the Tigers went 24 years (1987-2010) without winning the division. 

With or without Scherzer, there’s a possibility that they aren’t the last team standing in their division at season’s end.

But with the team’s window to win a World Series championship with their current high-paid stars likely closing sometime in the next few seasons—lack of minor league talent to replace aging veterans has a tendency to do that—they must take the win-now approach even if it means losing Scherzer for nothing more than a draft pick next offseason.

Dombrowski could be tempted by the offers, but he’ll pass on each and every one. Why? Because he knows that missing out on the playoffs in 2014 because the starting rotation wasn’t quite strong enough could haunt the organization for years. And he doesn’t want to be the cause of that.

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The Tigers made history last year. The kind of history that isn’t exactly headline worthy.

Somewhat akin to the Buffalo Bills in the 1990s, Detroit became the sixth baseball team to make three straight League Championship Series appearances without winning a ring during that time.

A few weeks later, the World Series is over, Jim Leyland has stepped down and the Tigers now find themselves with the undeniable need to get better.

After the bullpen debacle in Boston, which is still traumatizing to think about, the main focus of the offseason should be on improving the bullpen. After that, the team should be looking into potential holes at second base, in left field and on the bench.

Here are five ideas to improve the team.

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Miguel Cabrera fought through the last month of the season and then the playoffs while dealing with an amorphously defined injury. The Tigers variously called it a hip, groin and abdomen issue during the season, then Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski announced that Cabrera had a Grade II or III groin strain.

According to Jason Beck of MLB.com, surgery performed Tuesday finally gives us clarity: Cabrera had a core muscle injury repaired.

Wait, what?

Dr. William Meyers is one of the top sports hernia doctors, having performed this surgery on many professional athletes including Josh Hamilton, Magglio Ordonez, Troy Tulowitzki and even the NFL’s Adrian Peterson. However, Dr. Meyers has made efforts over the past few years to change the nomenclature on his specialty, writing articles about how “core muscle injury” should be the preferred term. 

(Quick trivia question: What MLB doctor coined the term “sports hernia”? Dr. Tim Kremchek of the Reds, in an attempt to explain the injury simply.) 

For Cabrera, this is a normal and expected outcome. While the Tigers weren’t clear on the nomenclature, they clearly had a handle on the injury, even when Cabrera was refusing treatment and hiding the injury as best he could. He avoided doctors as long as he could, though one does have to wonder if earlier treatment might have made him more effective.

Probably not, given the need for surgery. As with the others who have had this surgery, there appear to be very solid results and very little in the way of recurrence after repair. As with most surgeries, it is done arthroscopically, giving a short recovery time of six to eight weeks. That means Cabrera will not only be ready for spring training, but he’s likely to have a near-normal offseason program.

Using some of the past surgical repairs, especially the ones done by Meyers, as a guide, there’s little reason to think there will be any drop-off for Cabrera. The sample size of this cohort is small, to be sure, since it’s a recent diagnosis, but even the top-end talents did not have major drop-offs. Of the ones who did, such as Hamilton, it’s hard to pin any of that on the surgery. 

Cabrera had lost both speed and power while dealing with the injury. His running in the playoffs wouldn’t have beaten a Molina, while his power was sapped as well. Even on homers, Cabrera was fooled. One homer in Oakland looked like a towering shot that would go deep into the O.co seats, but ended up a wall-scraper that made Cabrera quicken his trot a bit. Those should both be improved after surgery, though don’t expect him to be a speedster! 

I do want to be clear that even though there has been different nomenclature used, I don’t believe the Tigers were being deliberately misleading. Sometimes, the exact injury is not known until the player is opened up, and frankly, when managing an injury like this, the focus is on symptom relief, pain management and functional value, not differential diagnosis. 

Miguel Cabrera is at the top of his game. The 2013 Hank Aaron Award winner is one of the best hitters of this or any era, so keeping him at his peak is key for Tigers’ hopes to get back to the World Series. His surgery should help him get there. While another run at a Triple Crown isn’t likely, being healthy gives him a chance that few others will ever have.

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