Detroit Tigers Star Seen As First Possible Extension Candidate Among Young Core
The Detroit Tigers have a bright future based on what occurred late in the year.
Instead of packing it in when the front office traded away assets at the deadline to embrace a youth movement, the team continued to grind and stacked up enough wins to make the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
Their magical run didn't end there, though.
The Tigers ended the American League record set by the Houston Astros when they eliminated them in the Wild Card round, and they were one win away in Game 5 of the ALDS from having an opportunity to play for a World Series appearance.
Detroit will have plenty of front office decisions that need to be made in the coming years when analyzing how to turn this roster into true contenders and which young players to keep.
One of their stars who is seen as an early extension candidate is outfielder Riley Greene.
He's been the most consistent hitter on the Tigers the past three years with a slash line of .267/.340/.434 and OPS+ of 118. Greene is also coming off the best season of his career with an OPS+ and wRC+ that were 33 and 35 points above the league average across his 137 games played, putting up 24 homers, 57 extra-base hits and 74 RBI.
After struggling on defense in center field, the emergence of Parker Meadows at that position pushed Greene into left, a position he excelled in with 14 Defensive Runs Saved and being worth four Outs Above Average.
So what might he get in a long-term extension?
Mark Polishuk of MLB Trade Rumors took a deep dive into what a long-term deal might look like for the former fifth overall pick.
Polishuk views the six-year, $115 million contract that Astros superstar slugger Yordan Alvarez signed as the floor based on what Greene brings to the table as a defender.
Injury concerns could limit the max amount of money he gets since that is something the Tigers front office has to take into account when handing out a lucrative deal.
There's also no rush for Detroit to get something done, either.
Greene is still in pre-arbitration and isn't scheduled to hit free agency until he's 28 years old, so they could wait to see if he's able to have another season where he's healthy before handing over a megadeal to him.
However, that also presents a risk for the Tigers.
If the rising star is able to put together another year where he's one of the best players on the team and is a top left fielder in Major League Baseball, that would only increase the ceiling on what he could earn.
President of baseball operations, Scott Harris, will take all of that into account this offseason as he figures out if the team should get a long-term extension worked out with a player who seems to be a franchise cornerstone of this roster going forward.
