The Detroit Tigers will enter the 2016 MLB offseason with the rebuilding process in their mind as players such as Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander could be traded. The latest rumors have revealed that the Boston Red Sox might be one of the teams to pursue Cabrera.
According to Buster Olney of ESPN, the Tigers are open to trading any of their players such as Cabrera and Verlander. The Detroit front office feels like they need to rebuild even though the team almost made it to the playoffs this season.
Cabrera and Verlander are the anchors of the Tigers team in the past several years but it might time to move on. Verlander will have a lot of suitors since many contending teams such as the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers need starting pitching.
On the other hand, Cabrera has been very consistent despite being a year older. He has not shown any signs of decline and he is still among the best hitters in baseball. He will likely produce at a high level for the next several years which means the Tigers would want a reasonable number of prospects for him.
One possible team that can acquire the two-time AL MVP is the Red Sox that has a loaded farm system. Boston also just lost David Ortiz to retirement and they would need to replace his big bat in the lineup, per Joe Giglio of the NJ Advance Media Group.
"One team that would almost definitely be in the mix is the Red Sox. With David Ortiz off to retirement and the executive-Dave Dombrowski-in place that traded for Cabrera nearly a decade ago in Detroit, it's not hard to imagine Cabrera hitting .340 at Fenway Park in the near future," Giglio reported.
It should be noted that Dombrowski served as the Tigers president of baseball operations for fourteen seasons. He orchestrated the trade that sent Cabrera from the then-Florida Marlins to Detroit in 2008 and it could also happen with the Red Sox this winter.
The 33-year-old first baseman is still one of the best hitters in all of baseball and he has proven that he can stay healthy. He played all but three games this season and his production does not show any signs of a rapid decline.
Cabrera has already won a World Series ring back in 2003 with the Marlins and he has been an All-Star 11 times. He is also had a Triple Crown season back in 2012 while also winning the AL MVP in the same year as well as 2013.
Nevertheless, these are just purely speculative at this point. The Red Sox can easily sign either Jose Bautista or Edwin Encarnacion in free agency but Cabrera is more of a sure producer. Check out the video below for some of the career highlights of Cabrera.