Detroit Tigers Clips Wednesday, October 12, 2016 Detroit Free Press Tigers' JaCoby Jones, collects two hits in Arizona Fall League opener (Fenech) MLive.com Tigers 2017 payroll Q&A: A challenging offseason ahead (Woodbery) MLB.com Tigers prospects in action as Fall League gets under way (Callis) Daily Transactions 1 Tigers' JaCoby Jones, collects two hits in Arizona Fall League opener October 12, 2016 By Anthony Fenech/ Detroit Free Press The Arizona Fall League started Tuesday. Seven Tigers prospects are participating in the off-season league for the Salt River Rafters. Among them are a few notable names, including JaCoby Jones, who could play his way onto the big league roster after spring training. Jones, 24, was called up to the Detroit Tigers in September after hitting .257 between Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo, with seven total home runs and 13 stolen bases. Jones is the organization’s priority player, guaranteeing him plenty of playing time. He will be joined on the Rafters by leftfielder Christin Stewart, who recently was named the Tigers’ minor league offensive player of the year. Stewart, the team’s second-round draft pick in 2015, hit .255 with 30 home runs between Class A Lakeland and Erie this season. In the AFL opener Tuesday against Peoria, Jones hit cleanup and started in centerfield and went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, a stolen base and a run scored as the teams tied after 10 innings. Stewart was placed eighth in left and went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. Offensively, Jones and Stewart will be joined by catcher Grayson Greiner. On the mound, four right-handers will pitch, including reliever Adam Ravenelle, who had an inconsistent season in 2016. With Lakeland, he posted a 2.86 ERA in 23 games. After getting a promotion to Erie, he posted a 4.85 ERA in 27 games. Ravenelle is a hard thrower with high upside in relief. Ravenelle pitched the ninth inning a Tuesday's tied game. He recorded two line outs and a ground out. Joining him is Spencer Turnbull, Artie Lewicki and Jeff Thompson, who pitched the inning before Ravenelle, allowing a hit and got a strikeout in his lone inning of work. The Arizona Fall League lasts through mid-November. 2 Tigers 2017 payroll Q&A: A challenging offseason ahead October 12, 2016 By Evan Woodbery/ MLive.com DETROIT -- How difficult will it be to pare down the Detroit Tigers payroll? Consider this: The Tigers have $167.2 million allotted to just 10 players in 2017. That money is guaranteed, meaning the only way to get some relief is to convince another team to take it off your hands. And other teams are going to need a lot of convincing to take on some of the Tigers' dead-weight contracts. That's the bad news. Tigers potential 2017 payroll Name 2017 Notes Miguel Cabrera $28M Justin Verlander $28M Justin Upton $22.125M Victor Martinez $18M Jordan Zimmermann $18M Anibal Sanchez $16.8M J.D. Martinez $11.75M Ian Kinsler $11M Mike Pelfrey $8M Mark Lowe $5.5M Francisco Rodriguez option $6M or $2M buyout Cameron Maybin option $9M or $1M buyout Jose Iglesias arb 2 $3.2 estimate Nick Castellanos arb 1 $2.8 estimate Justin Wilson arb 2 $2.7 estimate Andrew Romine arb 2 $1.2 estimate Alex Wilson arb 1 $1.2 estimate Bruce Rondon arb 1 $0.9 estimate Anthony Gose $0.507M possible arb 1 Matt Boyd $0.507M Buck Farmer $0.507M Michael Fulmer $0.507M Shane Greene $0.507M Blaine Hardy $0.507M Jairo Labourt $0.507M Joe Mantiply $0.507M Dustin Molleken $0.507M Angel Nesbitt $0.507M Daniel Norris $0.507M Kyle Ryan $0.507M Warwick Saupold $0.507M John Hicks $0.507M James McCann $0.507M JaCoby Jones $0.507M Dixon Machado $0.507M Tyler Collins $0.507M Steven Moya $0.507M Breakdown 3 Guaranteed $167.2M Options $15M Arb estimates $12M League min. players $3.55M Total $197.7M Note: In millions of dollars. 3 players on the current roster -- Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Erick Aybar and Casey McGehee will be free agents. Estimates from MLB Trade Rumors. The good news is that the Tigers really don't have to do much to build the roster this offseason. There are only three players (Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Erick Aybar and Casey McGehee) on the current 40-man roster who aren't under team control, and none of them are significant contributors. The Tigers have six players who are eligible for arbitration, including three reaching that milestone for the first time in their careers. That means raises, but not dramatic ones. The six players will cost about $12 million, according to estimates from MLB Trade Rumors. If the Tigers fill out the roster with players making the league minimum, that puts the final payroll just under $200 million, or about what it was in 2016. Of course, the Tigers are unlikely to stand pat after missing the playoffs for the second year in a row. But a glance at the payroll shows just how little flexibility the team has. Here are some questions and answers about those numbers: Do the Tigers actually have to cut payroll? Attendance has dropped for the second season in a row, but that doesn't necessarily mean the Tigers are panicking. A significant chunk of salary comes off the books in 2018, so barring an unexpected edict from ownership, don't expect any dramatic cuts. The Tigers don't need to save money so much as they need to increase flexibility. Far too much of their payroll is going to non-productive players. Unless they plan to stand pat this offseason, they need to reallocate some of their resources. Why are so many good players making the league minimum ($507,500)? Players are under team control until they reach six years of Major League service time, and they generally make the league minimum until they reach three years of service time, which qualifies them for arbitration. (Some top young players sign extensions, which gives them more money up front, usually in exchange for an extra season or two of commitment to the team.) What is arbitration? Players with three years of service time are still under team control (they're not free agents), but they're able to negotiate a salary beyond the league minimum. If the team and the player can't agree on a figure, an arbitrator hears the arguments on both sides and selects a winner. Most teams prefer to avoid arbitration and negotiate a fair deal on their own. Can't some players get arbitration with less than three years? Yes, in some cases, a player very close to three years of service time can reach arbitration. These "Super 2 players" represent the top 22 percent of players between two and three years of service time. The actual benchmark fluctuates every year. The Tigers have only one player on the Super 2 bubble, but it appears outfielder Anthony Gose will fall just short of reaching arbitration. (The official cutoff hasn't been released yet). Are teams required to bring back arbitration-eligible players? No, teams can decline to offer a 2017 contract to those players in lieu of going through the arbitration process. Utility infielder Andrew Romine might be the only candidate to be "non-tendered." The Tigers like Romine, but the organization also has four potential bench players who are out of options and must make the team or be exposed to waivers. Why is there talk of trading J.D. Martinez or Ian Kinsler? That sounds crazy. The Tigers have very few trade chips. Martinez and Kinsler would draw huge interest from other clubs. Many of the Tigers' most expensive players can't be traded or wouldn't attract any interest. 4 The only way the Tigers could unload some of their less attractive contracts is to include more valuable players in the trade. They could also agree to accept another team's burdensome contract, but that wouldn't help cut payroll. It seems unlikely that the Tigers would trade Martinez or Kinsler, but the Tigers might have to be creative if they want to make meaningful roster changes for 2017. Can't some players reject trades? Yes, players with 10 years of MLB service time, the last five with the Tigers, have veto power over any trade. That group includes Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez. Anibal Sanchez will attain "10-and- 5 rights" in the middle of the 2017 season. Isn't the current collective bargaining agreement about to expire? Yes, on Dec. 1. So there's a chance (although not a big one) that all the rules discussed above could be thrown out the window. It's more likely that the new CBA will look much like the current one. 5 Tigers prospects in action as Fall League gets under way October 12, 2016 By Jim Callis/ MLB.com The spotlight may shine on the Arizona Fall League more than ever in the prospect circuit's 25th season. Usually packed with phenoms, the league has even more blue-chip prospects than usual. And, as you may have heard, a certain Heisman Trophy winner will take the next step in his baseball development with the Scottsdale Scorpions. Since the AFL opened play in 1992, roughly 60 percent of its participants have graduated to the big leagues -- more than 2,500 players, including 247 All-Stars, 15 MVPs, six Cy Young Award winners and 26 Rookies of the Year. Alumni include future Hall of Famers such as Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols, as well as five of the six major award winners from 2015 in Jake Arrieta, Kris Bryant, Josh Donaldson, Bryce Harper and Dallas Keuchel.