Detroit Tigers 2015 spring training - Feb. 26, 2015

David Price is going to get paid if he hits free agency. But if he leaves as a free agent, the Detroit Tigers will have other options to fill out their rotation for 2016.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

Dave Dombrowski protected the Detroit Tigers against the departure of Max Scherzer for the 2015 season last summer when he acquired David Price. How will he protect the Tigers against the potential departure of Price following this season?

He doesn't have to. The free agent market will do it for him.

The road the Tigers are headed down with Price might not be the exact same one they went down with Max Scherzer. But there is a decent chance the destination will be the same. If the Tigers don't lock him up with a long-term deal this spring, there's a good chance he'll test the market. At that point, a betting person would be wise to take the field against a return to the Tigers for Price.

RELATED: 8 pitchers Detroit Tigers could pursue if David Price leaves

But the Tigers might be just fine if Price finds brighter lights and greener money with, say, the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees or Chicago Cubs.

One, it will prevent the Tigers from tying up another $200 million or so in future payroll commitments when they already have a handful of guys locked up for big bucks and years to come. (The Tigers have more than a half-billion dollars -- $512.6 million -- committed to Cabrera, Verlander, Victor Martinez, Anibal Sanchez, Ian Kinsler and Prince Fielder in the coming years; even more than that if they eventually choose club options over buyouts for both Sanchez and Kinsler.)

Two, there will be plenty of more affordable alternatives should Price sign elsewhere. They won't be as good as Price. But there will be plenty of talented starters available.

The starting pitching market this past offseason consisted mostly of three players: Scherzer, Jon Lester and James Shields. Which pitchers are likely to be free agents next offseason? How does Price, Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Doug Fister, Rick Porcello, Mat Latos, Hisashi Iwakuma and Jordan Zimmermann sound? Zack Greinke can opt out of his contract and become a free agent as well.

Supply and demand says that having that many starting pitchers on the market should make the price more reasonable for teams. But the market shows premier pitchers will get $200 million or more. The statistics show Price should be the most sought after starting pitcher to hit the market in the offseason.

Some Tigers fans looked for someone to blame when Scherzer signed a deal with the Nationals that will pay him $210 million (but is really "worth" somewhere around $192 million due to the deferred money).

Should the Tigers have locked him up last spring, when they were the only team that could negotiate with him? I would say no. They offered him $144 million for six seasons. That's a lot of money, especially considering their other obligations. The Tigers were correct to not go any higher.

And Scherzer was correct not to take that offer. He gambled on himself, put up good numbers and got another $50 million or so (depending on how you calculate his new deal) with the Nationals. Greed? Nope. It's business. I mean, I love MLive, but if Cleveland.com calls and offers me an additional $50 million to cover the Indians, well, it's been nice knowing you.

Price is not Scherzer. Outwardly, Price appears less set on testing the open market. His agent has generally been more willing to make a deal than Scherzer's. Price has not set any sort of opening day deadline to have a deal done like Scherzer did. Unlike Scherzer, Price seems willing to discuss the state of negotiations with media members. (Expect the Tigers to encourage Price to change his tune in this regard before any meaningful talks are held.) He could decide being filthy rich and pitching in Detroit is better than taking aim at being unbelievably rich and pitching elsewhere for the next several years.

But someone asked me a question last week that I think is worthy of repeating: How much would the Tigers need to offer Price to get him to sign right now?

Of course, only Price can answer that. But if he has a typical season in 2015, there's no reason he wouldn't get at least as much as Scherzer but without the deferments. In my opinion, Price is more valuable than Scherzer. The market goes up every season. Why would he get less than $210 million?

Would the Tigers make him an offer of more than $200 million this spring? Should they?

It's impossible to tell for sure with the Tigers because Mike Ilitch is the wild card. If he decides he wants Price in a Tigers uniform, he can simply call Dombrowski and tell him to throw a ton of money at Price.

But that seems unlikely. The Tigers offered $144 million to Scherzer a year ago. It's tough to imagine that they would up that offer by $60 million or so a year later when they have the same salary commitments they had a year ago.

Like they did with Scherzer, the Tigers might make Price a huge offer. Like Scherzer, Price might turn them down. Like Scherzer, Price might end up elsewhere. If that happens, there will be no guilty parties. There will be no need for fans to call for a criminal investigation. It's just the way baseball works.

But if it does go down that way, the Tigers might find a viable alternative to Price -- someone not quite as talented but much more affordable -- on the free agent market.

Based on their future payroll commitments, that might actually be the wise way to go.

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