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Report: Tigers Tried To Trade Upton During Season, Will Look To Move Him This Winter

By Dan Jenkins
@DanTJenkins

Many fans questioned first-year general manager Al Avila last winter when the Detroit Tigers signed veteran outfielder Justin Upton to a six-year, $132.75 million contract.

After an abysmal start to his Tigers career, Upton turned things around late in the year and helped keep Detroit in the playoff picture. However, it looks like Tigers management may have been looking to move Upton long before he finally started swinging the bat in September.

According to ESPN Baseball Insider Buster Olney, the Tigers explored trading Upton throughout the 2016 season, just months after signing him to a $130 million contract. Even his hot finish hasn't changed the team's mind, because it looks like Avila will be looking to move him this winter.

"...the Tigers will push some of their older players -- as they did during the season, when they pushed to move Justin Upton.

The Tigers were ready to move him during the 2016 season, but the streaky 29-year-old is owed $110.6 million for the next five seasons, and Detroit's effort to dump his salary this winter could be greatly impacted by the extraordinary number of cheaper market alternatives."

Avila said earlier this week that the team will be looking to shed payroll and get younger at the same time, that could mean moving someone like Upton -- or even fan favorites like Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, J.D. Martinez and Ian Kinsler.

"We want to get younger. We want to get leaner. We want to run the organization without having to go over our means," Avila said on Tuesday. "Changes that we want to make are going to be dictated by what's available on the trade market."

After routinely having one of the highest payrolls in the MLB, it seems that the Tigers are finally looking to move in a different direction.

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