The Tigers announced today that they will not be offering arbitration to any of their free agents. This includes Edgar Renteria and that's a very disappointing decision. It means that they will not receive any free agent compensation if he signs with another team. Given that multiple teams are reportedly interested in signing him to more than a one year deal, offering arbitration seemed like the logical way to go.
From a financial perspective, it means the Tigers did not want to take the risk that Renteria would accept arbitration and and be rewarded something close to the $9 million he made in 2008. For the Tigers not to take this risk when they don't even have a starting shortstop, that tells me that the they are probably not in good shape financially. We can now officially expect them to be really tight with payroll this winter after throwing around money freely the last couple of off-seasons.
It would have been nice to get a couple of draft picks to help make up for the ill fated trade that sent Jair Jurrjens and Gorkys Hernandez to Atlanta last year. Instead, the Renteria fiasco is now complete. They traded away two talented young players and now get nothing in return. It's not a good start to the off-season. It's also an indication that they are probably not in a position to spend much money to improve the club in the near future.
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