If you’re holding out hope that some of the young players who were part of the Detroit Tigers’ 114-loss season in 2019 are on the verge of turning a corner in 2020, you should probably stop reading now.

The future -- the immediate future, anyway -- is not very bright.

That’s the opinion of the freshly released Steamer projections at Fangraphs.

As always, any projection system is only a best guess using available data and can’t account for all the individual improvements, adjustments and changes that players make from year to year.

That said, Steamer is a well-respected and generally reliable projection system. It gives a good baseline for expectations going into a new year. Some players will overachieve, others will underachieve, but this is a good starting point.

And the Tigers are starting from a very low point.

Although the official Steamer projections make a best guess at playing time, at this point in the offseason it’s easier to use Steamer 600, which assumes that position players will get 600 plate appearances, starting pitchers will have 200 innings and relief pitchers will have 60.

THE OFFENSE

For simplicity, we’ll use weighted Runs Created scaled to 100. Anything above 100 is above the league average; anything under is worse than the league average.

So let’s plug those numbers in and see -- oh my goodness, this is terrible!

There is just one player who is projected to have better-than-league-average run production. That would be Miguel Cabrera (108 wRC+), whose weight, uncertain health and balky knee make it incredibly unlikely that he will log 600 plate appearances.

In Steamer 600, there is only one player who projects to have a WAR greater than 2.0. That’s prospect Isaac Paredes. He hasn’t played a single game in Triple-A Toledo and is unlikely to arrive in Detroit until later in the year.

Repeating for emphasis: Even under the most optimistic projections, there is just a single 2.0 WAR player in the entire organization. And he’ll be starting the season in Toledo.

Let’s take a step back from this ugliness and take a look at some individual projections:

Steamer says not to give up on outfielder Christin Stewart (98 wRC+) or corner infielder Jeimer Candelario (98), which the Tigers seem keen on doing. Stewart and Candelario are both projected to have nearly league average run production, which puts them near the top of the list offensively.

Steamer also hasn’t completely soured on outfielder Travis Demeritte (94 wRC+), even after a modest Major League debut in 2019.

But it’s not terribly excited about Victor Reyes (84 wRC+), predicting that the Tigers could get similar production out of Jacob Robson (84) or recent waiver pickup Troy Stokes (83). Reyes might still be a valuable fourth outfielder, but Steamer doesn’t see the Tigers being rewarded for their investment of a Rule 5 pick and two years of patience.

Not surprisingly, Steamer is even more bearish on the other half of the BABIP Bros, Harold Castro (69 wRC+), whose average was also inflated by a high batting average on balls in play in 2019.

Steamer is unimpressed with JaCoby Jones’ brief offensive resurgence in 2019 (80 wRC+). It’s also not overly impressed with Willi Castro (81 wRC+). But Castro still has room to grow, whereas Dawel Lugo (81) is two years older and out of options.

Steamer also doesn’t like either of the Tigers’ catchers -- Grayson Greiner (71 wRC+) or Jake Rogers (72).

Even Niko Goodrum, one of the few bright spots of the last two years, is projected to take a step back (86 wRC+).

That’s about it. In summary, Steamer thinks the Tigers’ offense is almost uniformly awful. Send help. Please.

Detroit Tigers pitcher Matthew Boyd smiles in the dugout against the Philadelphia Phillies in the first inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Tuesday, July 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)AP

PITCHING

What about the pitching?

Steamer thinks Tarik Skubal (2.3 WAR in 200 hypothetical innings) would be the Tigers’ fourth-best starting pitcher. Right now.

That’s behind Matthew Boyd (3.4), Michael Fulmer (2.8) and Spencer Turnbull (2.5).

Then comes Daniel Norris (2.0).

That’s the extent of the Tigers 2.0 WAR pitchers -- even under the generous assumption of 200 innings pitched.

Top prospects Matt Manning (1.4) and Casey Mize (1.2) are ranked ahead of Jordan Zimmermann (0.9). In fact, the arrival of one or both of those pitchers might knock Zimmermann to the unemployment line later in 2020, the final year of Zimmermann’s contract.

Among relievers, Joe Jimenez and Buck Farmer are at the top of the bullpen, as you might expect. But Steamer is also surprisingly bullish on Matt Hall (4.15 ERA, 0.6 WAR). It is less excited about David McKay, Gregory Soto and Bryan Garcia.

That shouldn’t be surprising. The Tigers’ piecemeal bullpen at this point is basically Jimenez, Farmer and whoever stands out in spring training. That’s probably as it should be for a rebuilding team.

As for the rotation, the projections suggest that Skubal, Manning and Mize, who will likely start the year in Triple-A Toledo, aren’t too far away.

Next up in the prospect pecking order? Kyle Funkhouser, Alex Faedo, Franklin Perez and Joey Wentz.

You have to go a long way down the list to find Beau Burrows, a first-round pick in 2015 who had an inconsistent debut with Toledo in 2019.

FURTHER READING

5 free agents the Tigers should call right now

Committee will consider Lou Whitaker for Hall of Fame next month

131 MLB free agents, including 5 Tigers, hit the market

MLB 2019-2020 offseason calendar: What to expect this winter

Tigers 2020 projected payroll: Lowest in a decade?

How will Miguel Cabrera's career end? Albert Pujols' path may provide clues

New Miggy milestone tracker: When will he reach 3,000 hits?

2019 Tigers report card: This offense was beyond bad

2019 Tigers report card: Pitching wasn’t great, but reinforcements on the way