Henning: Tigers’ long-term plan is to cut payroll, get younger

(Photo: Robin Buckson / Detroit News)He saw no reason to mention it Saturday during a press briefing, but Al Avila understands he will be trading players. He needs fundamentally to ease Detroit’s $200-million-plus payroll, a one-year surge that can’t be sustained. The Tigers simultaneously want to build a younger roster that has more all-around baseball skill than the current group offers.

It might not happen ahead of the Aug. 1 (non-waiver) trade deadline, but dealing will be done. It will begin this week if a team delirious with playoff fever makes the Tigers an offer that can’t in good conscience be turned down.

It’s more likely the heavier peddling will wait for the coming offseason. It…