Sean Newell writes in Deadspin that the Tigers woke up Sunday "and decided to call their reigning Cy Young winner greedy."
Max Scherzer was apparently offered a long-term deal "that would have placed him among the highest paid pitchers in baseball" and he turned it down. So the Tigers put out a press release killing him for it and informing the public that no further negotiations will take place during the season.
The Tigers release said:
"The Detroit Tigers have made a substantial, long-term contract extension offer to Max Scherzer that would have placed him among the highest paid pitchers in baseball, and the offer was rejected," the team said in a statement.
"As we have reiterated, it has been the organization's intent to extend Max's contract and keep him in a Tigers uniform well beyond the 2014 season. While this offer would have accomplished that, the ballclub's focus remains on the start of the upcoming season, and competing for a World Championship. Moving forward there will be no further in-season negotiation and the organization will refrain from commenting on this matter."
Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski also pointed out that the offer was substantial and the result of months of negotiations, so perhaps it's understandable that they are pissed, Newell writes.
Still, pointing all of that out is just a tad bit petty, and worse, disingenuous. Each year, players reach, or approach, free agency and get painted as villains—by either the fans, the media or both—for simply wanting to see what they are worth, not what their own team is willing to lowball them.
