DETROIT -- The Tigers filed into the home clubhouse at Comerica Park on Thursday morning wearing winter coats rather than jerseys and spikes. That made it a little tougher to match up some of the faces, even with the name plates over their lockers.

“It’s basically a new clubhouse,” said Michael Fulmer, who wasn't really around last year while recovering from Tommy John surgery. “There’s a lot of guys I had to introduce myself to today.”

Austin Romine, whose most famous moment at this ballpark came in a home-plate fracas with Miguel Cabrera, was mingling with the catchers he now calls teammates. Jonathan Schoop rolled in and found his spot a couple lockers down from new double-play partner Niko Goodrum. Same for first baseman C.J. Cron and right-hander Ivan Nova. And that doesn’t include prospects on the trip who are newly added to the 40-man roster, such as Beau Burrows.

After a 114-loss season, new faces are good. The Tigers will have a couple days on the Winter Caravan as well as an autograph session downtown Saturday morning to introduce themselves to fans. Then they’ll file into the Spring Training clubhouse in Lakeland, Fla., next month and get to work.

That, general manager Al Avila said, was the whole idea. They’re not trying to redress the rebuild, but rather trying to pick it up.

“We’re very excited in the sense that we feel we’re a team that’s changing now to be more competitive,” Avila said. “Not only did we bring in players like Jonathan Schoop, C.J. Cron and Austin Romine and Ivan Nova and guys like that, but also we’re excited in the competition of, say, [Jeimer] Candelario and [Dawel] Lugo battling it out at third base. It’s open competition in the outfield, and we still might sign another outfielder. I’m not saying we will, but it’s a possibility. And we’re still looking to improve as we go along through Spring Training and throughout the season.

“We’re looking forward to competition with some of our young guys, particularly our outfielders, because we have so many of them. We want to see some of these guys step up, and with the addition of the new guys, we feel we’re going to have a better team and a better year.”

Said manager Ron Gardenhire: “It’s time to win and show our fans the right direction where we’re trying to go here. And it starts this year. We want to hold players accountable. No more gimmes. Sure, we want our players to develop, our young guys to continue that, but they’re going to have to earn some playing time now.”

The outfield note from Avila was of particular interest, with the free-agent outfield market stagnating as the Hot Stove season winds down. While Marcell Ozuna signed a one-year, $18 million deal on Tuesday, the market remains crowded, led by former Tiger Nicholas Castellanos and Yasiel Puig.

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Avila downplayed the possibility of a Puig signing, saying he’s “not a priority.” And a Tigers reunion with Castellanos appears highly unlikely, given his remarks about the organization before his trade to the Cubs last July. Beyond those two, however, the free-agent market includes former regulars like Hunter Pence, Steven Souza Jr., Domingo Santana, Lonnie Chisenhall, Kevin Pillar and ex-Tiger Cameron Maybin, as well as useful role players like Matt Joyce, Melky Cabrera and former Tiger Curtis Granderson.

Who makes more sense depends on the purpose. The Tigers have young Christin Stewart, a left-handed hitter, in left field, but he could use a right-handed hitter to platoon. On the flip side, they have nobody set in right, where Travis Demeritte closed out last season after the Castellanos trade. Victor Reyes could play there, or he could platoon in left.

Moreover, despite Stewart’s presence, the lineup leans right-handed, which could favor adding a left-handed hitter for right field.

“At this stage, I don’t know so much that it’s the price,” Avila said. “It’s just a matter of the fit, and does it block anybody? Right now we’re actually wrestling with that. We’re talking with some agents. That’s why I can’t say right now we’re definitely going to sign a guy, but we’re looking into it as a possibility. And if it makes sense, we will. And if it doesn’t, we’ll play it out in Spring Training and see how it goes.”

They’ll also get a long look at several of the aforementioned prospects in Spring Training, including infield prospect Isaac Paredes, center fielder Derek Hill, catcher Jake Rogers and top pitching prospects Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Tarik Skubal, Alex Faedo and Burrows. But while Avila didn’t completely eliminate the possibility of Mize or Manning crashing the roster out of camp like Justin Verlander and Joel Zumaya did in 2006, he greatly downplayed it.

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“I think at the stage of where our club is right now, I think it would probably be not as likely, no,” Avila said. “If you were to fast-forward [the rebuilding process], yeah. But where we’re at right now, I would say no, probably not that great of a chance. I think it would be our preference to start at [Triple-A] Toledo, have good years in Toledo and, at some point during the season, we can bring them up and they can get some experience. And then we can go into the following Spring Training at that point, and it’s a whole different ballgame.”

An in-season callup will not be affected by service-time considerations and potential arbitration eligibility down the road, Avila said.

“I’ll be perfectly honest with you: I’ve never really been too concerned about service time,” Avila said. “For me, it’s all about when the team’s ready to win and the guy’s ready to come up and help us win. It’s the next step that we’re not there yet. As far as holding a guy back because of service time, I’ve never been taught that way from my predecessor, and I don’t work that way.”