One departure was expected, another not as anticipated Friday when the Tigers said goodbye to catcher James McCann and reliever Alex Wilson ahead of an 8 p.m. deadline for offering team-control players 2019 contracts.
The Tigers decided McCann’s numbers, offensively and defensively, did not warrant the $3.5-4 million he would have been expected to receive in 2019 as an arbitration-eligible player. Likewise, Wilson, for all his utility and reliability in the Tigers bullpen, didn’t make the cut as a team grinding through a rebuild decided roster and payroll space must be cleared.
“You’re always prepared for it,” McCann said Friday, from his home near Nashville, Tennessee, not long after he had gotten the word from Tigers general manager Al Avila.