SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Al Avila has made some phone calls.
Before heading to baseball’s general managers meetings this week, with the hot stove starting to heat up and some of the Tigers’ star players swirling in trade rumors, the second-year GM picked up the phone.
Among the recipients of his calls were starting pitcher Justin Verlander, first baseman Miguel Cabrera, second baseman Ian Kinsler, leftfielder Justin Upton and designated hitter Victor Martinez.
"I’ve always been up front and honest with our players,” Avila said Wednesday at the Omni Scottsdale Resort. "So, I think that’s the way to do it.”
"There’s no other way to do it for me,” Avila said. "I would not be able to sleep knowing that I’m going to do something and I didn’t say this, I didn’t tell this guy or give this guy a heads-up. You gotta be able to be up front and straightforward, and that’s the only way to do business.”
Avila has been transparent about the Tigers’ plan since meeting with reporters last month: The team’s goal is to tuck its payroll — currently north of $200 million —
under MLB’s luxury-tax limit while trying to present a competitive product. With perhaps as much as $20 million needing to come off the books to reach that goal and with no expiring contracts, Avila will be tasked with finding the right fits on the trade market, so he felt it was only right to share that transparency with the players who will be speculated about.
"Names are going to come out there and people are going to speculate, and all it takes is just for one person to mention one player and then all of a sudden, it just takes root,” he said. "Whether it’s substantial or not, it doesn’t matter. It’s going to be out there. That’s just the nature of the beast and nature of how the media works.”
One such scenario took root early Wednesday morning, when
MLB Network’s Jon Paul Morosi reported the Astros plan to pursue Cabrera or Blue Jays free-agent slugger Edwin Encarnacion this off-season. Houston profiles well to make an aggressive run at Cabrera: They are a young, up-and-coming team looking to add payroll with a strong farm system.