No first-rounder, but club looking for ways to get younger
Detroit will not have a selection in the first round of the June free agent draft for the third year in a row, because of the signings of Jose Valverde, Victor Martinez and Prince Fielder over the last three winters, but that only forces the Tigers to get a little creative in replenishing their supply of young prospects.
The Tigers showed some aggressiveness recently in getting Ignacio Valdez, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound 16-year-old outfielder, to agree to a reported $280,000 bonus.
Valdez was rated the best of six prospects eligible to sign out of the Dominican Prospect League All-Star game and is described as having significant power potential. And like last year's million-dollar signee, Venezuelan outfielder Danry Vasquez, Valdez might reach the United States during his first year of pro ball.
Whether he pans out or not is something that will play out over time but the significance of the signing is that Detroit continues to be a major player in the Latin American market. The Tigers don't hang with the $2-3 million crowd but have developed a method of spreading the same amount of money among a handful of players, almost all of them tall, lean players with potential to be power pitchers or heavy hitting position players.
The Tigers have been linked as one of the teams heavy in pursuit of free agent Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, although the committing of big money to Fielder might now put a limit on how far they will go to land him. On the other hand, if the organization feels Cespedes is going to be a star, club owner Mike Ilitch won't be afraid to pay the freight.
The history of Detroit drafts, especially since David Chadd joined Dave Dombrowski, has been to take talent and worry about the cost later.
Without a first-round pick in 2010, Detroit had a pair of supplemental round selections and took Nick Castellanos and Chance Ruffin. Castellanos is ranked as first or second on the Tigers' prospect list and projected to be the club's starting third baseman in a couple of years. Ruffin made his big league debut for Detroit last summer and was part of the trade to Seattle than landed Doug Fister. In the second round it took Drew Smyly, who has a chance to join the Tigers' rotation this spring.
Signing Martinez left Detroit with the 76th overall selection in last summer's draft -- it will be in an even worst position this summer -- and it took a flyer on a catcher, James McCann of Arkansas. It made some mild gambles in later rounds.
New draft rules are in place designed to limit the money clubs can spend, albeit with room for built-in creativity.
The Tigers were creative under the old rules and can be expected to continue that philosophy under the rule ones.
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