Schoop of Things

 Hey there tigers land, who doesn't like the option for a cool 7.5m, don't blame me for for allowing that option. Clearly I am not and probably never will be in the Tigers front office. There is a lot of reasons for this opt-in and he deserves every penny of his contract right? Ahhh let the disagreement begin, is that bad bat really worth that much in aav? Well lets take a deeper dive into this and see why Schoop had no choice at all, but, to opt in here with the tigers. 

The obvious here is ding ding you got it everyone say it with me know ...

The Free Agent Market!!

Does anyone realistically think he could have collected this type of payday on the open market? Im sure that general consensus is going to be a no. But, surely a rock solid defensive second basemen could get some bucks in his pocket out there. The figures really don't fall in his favor especially coming off of what was the worst hitting season in the last few years here for Mr. Schoop. I don't think any G.M. in their right mind wants to take a chance on his bat finding its prior form to get a few extra stops here and there, the game just isn't played that way anymore. Especially when you consider the youth movement we have been seeing trending up the last few years in the bigs. On top of that he doesn't have a lot left in those legs rounding second base anymore, while he was never a speedster it has gotten worse the last two seasons. We have seen this lately with Miggy even talking about those things at the All-Star break. Personally I think it is one of the most underrated aspects of baseball and something that as I just mentioned just isn't the way the game is headed. You know small ball will still win you a game or two against bad teams but when you got big time power lineups dominating people overlook the basepaths. Schoop does not do well there and that is a problem when you looking to get a big payday on the market and have declining power too boot. 

7.5m is a good pay day for him here and I just don't see how he could fetch that anywhere else. There also aren't a lot of teams in dire need for a slow defensive second basemen with a declining bat. Yes the position is historically dominated by defensive players with great intangibles who can knock doubles around like shots on your birthday. But, he just hasn't been that guy for long enough and been productive enough to garner a big paycheck. No team really pays out for guys at the end of their career whose best attribute is defense. Because we all know that youth is best for flying around and making plays. Yes there is something to be said about the savvy-ness of veteran defense, but that's isn't really valued on the open market. He really had no choice but to take this contract opt-in and hope the Tigers keep him on for another season. 

So, with that being said what are the chances that he actual makes this team next spring? Right now pretty high unless Clemens or Kreidler absolutely just go god mode in the spring and force him out he has an easy path to again be the everyday starter here. Jace Jung is a year or two out more then likely considering the typical path to the bigs. I wouldn't say that is what is best for the tigers though if you look at the Schoop of things. I mean look at this, Miggy is in his last season and wants to win he wants to go out on top and deserves to go out on top. If the Tigers really value him as much as we all think they do they are going to try and make a push next year and all of Detroit sure knows that they need it. 

Its hard to dive too deep right now into how this is possible with the world series still wrapping up and Scott Harris just taking over. But he has signaled another year of rebuilding and development thus far. So does that mean schoop actually sticks around i'm leaning towards probably not if they want too develop these young guys. But does that equal wins next year. Im going to take the less interesting path here because so much is up in the air with this team, and really their pitching staff who know how long it will take for full health of there depleted starting group. Either way he isn't a win now move and iant a developmental move so surely he cant be in their plans can he?

Drop a comment let me know your thoughts!