Max Scherzer's Tigers career might not be over quite yet.
For the last nine months, Dave Dombrowski has played down the chances of the Tigers re-signing the 2013 Cy Young Award winner, pointing out that they could not reach a contract agreement during spring training, when they were the only bidders. That made it unlikely they would have more success when 29 other teams were allowed to pursue him.
That seemed even more likely when the Tigers traded two of the top-10 prospects to acquire Shane Greene -- a move that Dombrowski said finished off the Detroit rotation to his satisfaction.
However, ESPN's Buster Olney tweeted from the winter meetings in San Diego that Scherzer has become Detroit's top offseason priority, and that they are willing to spend "big, big dollars" to get him.
"Detroit really wants him back," Olney added.
The move would make sense for a team that has already signed Victor Martinez, Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera to huge contracts in an attempt to win an elusive World Series title. Bringing back Scherzer would give Detroit six solid starters, and would allow them to explore the option of trading Rick Porcello for outfield help -- a move that makes little sense without adding Scherzer or another high-quality starter.
Dombrowski, though, denied the report during his daily briefing Tuesday afternoon in San Diego.
"I don't know where he got that from," he told a group of local writers. "That's not accurate. I know it didn't come from this room."
