SI Lists Top 50 Free Agent; Brandon McCarthy And Andrew Miller Best Fit For Tigers
By: Evan Jankens
@kingofthekc
With the 2014 baseball season officially over, it's time to start looking at free agent fits for the Detroit Tigers.
Sports Illustrated listed their top 50 free agents in baseball, along with the team they currently play for, and which team the free agent would best fit.
Two out of the top 5 are Detroit Tigers. At No. 1, Max Scherzer's best fits are listed as the New York Yankees; at No. 5, they list Victor Martinez's best fit with the Chicago White Sox.
Four of the players on the top 50 are listed as best fits in Detroit.
The 16th best free agent is Brandon McCarthy who played for the Yankees in 2014.
That his overall numbers were as strong as they were despite a high BABIP of .328 suggests he was unlucky, and that even better things could be ahead. They might happen in Detroit, which due to Max Scherzer's likely departure will need one more quality starter to join David Price, Justin Verlander, Anibal Sanchez and Rick Porcello.
The 17th best player is Nori Aoki who spent the 2014 season with the Kansas City Royals.
The Tigers' outfielders, as a group, were among the league's worst fielding units, and they could generally stand to get a bit more athletic and, for lack of a better word, pesky. Aoki would amount to a peskiness infusion.
23rd best player listed is former Tiger starter and current Orioles reliever Andrew Miller.
Make no mistake: Miller is the best relief pitcher available this offseason, and the perennially relief-needy Tigers won't miss the chance to get him.
Rounding out the list for the Tigers is Sports Illustrated is the Nationals Adam LaRoche.
If the Tigers can't re-sign Victor Martinez, he'd represent an excellent replacement, and one who'd be able to rotate with Miguel Cabrera between DH and first base.
Which of the four do you think is the best fit for the 2015 Detroit Tigers?
