I am expecting the Tigers to land one of the big five. It will be a bit disappointing if they don't. I am less confident they'll get Correa specifically, but I think they will make a legitimate offer.
The Clemens thing is fun to think about, but 17 other teams passed on him. It's like agonizing over not drafting Trout. There are so many players like that. The Tigers were really really cheap back in the 80s, so there is no way they were going to be the team to offer a big bonus to Clemens.
He has an unusual skill set. If he keeps doing what he's doing, he'd be a good addition. The problem is players who don't walk and who get a lot of their value from speed and defense tend to lose their value fast. I'd be particularly wary of a long term deal with him.
I don't know their budget. If there was a salary cap, I would worry about salaries. I doubt they will acquire Myers, but if they did I would assume they must have a very high budget. Either that or they are really stupid in which case, they aren't going to put together a good team anyway.
I never care how much money any player makes. Length of contract matters to me because it gets to be a problem when a washed up old player hangs around for three years at the end of his contract playing every day in the middle of the line-up.
Right, it was not regarded as lopsided when it was made. Looking back though, I think May and Helms were overrated and would not be as highly regarded by today's metrics. And Morgan was a star in Houston by today's metrics although there was no way of knowing how great he would become in Cincinnati. I still say he was the most exciting player I have seen in his prime. He could do everything. He was Mike Trout with style.
WAR last five years
Story 22.5
Correa 22.3
Lindor 22.1
Semien 22.1
Turner 21.0
Baez 20.9
Bogaerts 19.9
Simmons 17.0
Seager 14.6
I am not really making a point here. They are all different ages playing under different conditions. I just think it's interesting how close the top guys are.
This list includes players who played the majority of their games at shortstop. The Tigers have no such players.
https://stathead.com/baseball/season_finder.cgi?request=1&match=career&order_by_asc=0&order_by=WAR_bat&qualifiers=nomin&minpasVal=3000&mingamesVal=1000&year_min=2017&year_max=2021&positions[]=6&exactness=anymarked&games_min_max=min&games_prop=50&type=b&age_min=0&age_max=99&season_start=1&season_end=-1&location=pob&locationMatch=is&isHOF=either
November 29, 1971: Traded by the Houston Astros with Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham, Cesar Geronimo and Denis Menke to the Cincinnati Reds for Tommy Helms, Lee May and Jimmy Stewart.
So the Reds got the best player in baseball, a pretty good starter and a starting center fielder for May (2-3 win player) and Helms (1-2 win player).
I hated Jim Wynn and his nickname. My best friend was a Dodgers fan and he used to tease me about how bad the Tigers were in 74,75. So, I hated Wynn, Lasorda, Garvey, Lopes, Cey and Yeager and all those bastards!
Allen was difficult for some people to get along with. Ted Williams, Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby were too. The question is whether they hurt their teams. I also question whether Allen was disliked because he was an outspoken black man and whether he would have received the same criticism if he were white.
I would go into the season with one more strong starter and another one that can compete with Alexander for a spot. I'd say the same about Manning, but they are heavily invested in him so they probably need to assume he's good enough.