Las Vegas — On Tuesday night, Tigers general manager Al Avila said he was slow-playing the shortstop market, not wanting to rush a deal now and potentially miss out on a bigger and better deal later.
Less than 12 hours later, he had an agreement on a one-year deal with veteran shortstop Jordy Mercer, worth $5.25 million. The deal, first reported by MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, was confirmed by an industry source familiar with the negotiations.
Mercer, 32, has a career slash-line of .256/.316/.383 in seven seasons with the Pirates. Last season, sidelined by a hand injury in August, he played in just 117 games, hitting .