The Tigers are in the middle of a rebuilding process, and they have a few gems in the organization — namely Casey Mize and Matt Manning, big right-handers who could anchor the rotation for years — but their overall organizational talent level isn’t stunning. At its midseason update, Baseball America ranked the Tigers just 14th of the 30 MLB teams.
And any hope for a surprising season — they were still near .500 after splitting a four-game series in Minnesota in mid-May — quickly went away. Since that trip to the
Twin Cities, the Tigers are 13-51, which is by far the worst record in the bigs. The Orioles have the next-worst record in that span, at 21-45, seven full games better than the Tigers.
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You can’t just lose a lot of games at the major league level and call it a rebuilding process; you have to use those years to acquire elite-level talent, and lots of it. Mize and Manning look like brilliant draft picks — they’re both Top 25 on BA’s Top 100 — and Riley Greene, the No. 5 overall pick in this June’s draft, has excelled so far in his professional debut.
That’s great, but it isn’t good enough. They have to take a page from the division-rival White Sox and add via the trade, too. Look at all that young talent: Eloy Jimenez, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Yoan Moncada all arrived via trade.
The Tigers have an opportunity here to add a nice influx of talent to the rebuild process and possibly even win the 2019 trade deadline.
Who the Tigers could trade
Closer Shane Greene HAS to be moved right now. His production has been outstanding this year — a 1.22 ERA and 22 saves in 25 opportunities — and those are the kinds of numbers that any contender would love to add to the final few innings. Greene is set to become a free agent after the 2020 season, and he’s worth so much more now, with two pennant runs of value, than just one in the offseason. Because with an offseason to sit back and pick through trade options, teams might be a tad more critical of his OK-at-best 3.74 FIP this year, or his 5.12 ERA from last year.
Lefty starter Matthew Boyd comes with a ton of club control, which is the type of bonus that opposing GMs love, and sometimes convince themselves to pay steep prospect prices for (see: Cubs trading Eloy Jimenez to the White Sox for Jose Quintana). Like Greene, Boyd has been a different, much better pitcher this year; his K/9 is up from 8.4 to 12.1 — leading to an AL-best 6.14 K/BB ratio — and his FIP is a career-best 3.47. The Tigers don’t have to trade him now, of course (he’s not eligible to become a free agent until after 2022), but if they want an elite return, it’s probably best to strike while the proverbial iron is hot. And remember, Michael Fulmer was the subject of trade rumors once upon a time, but the Tigers kept him and then he needed Tommy John surgery. Maybe they move Boyd now to avoid a repeat.
And if you’re seeing tweets like this one below, just know that’s all about leverage.
Starter Matthew Boyd is likely to stay put now. No team has made an enticing offer to the #Tigers to persuade them to move him.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 30, 2019
MORE: How MLB Network prepares for chaos, or nothing, at the trade deadline
Unlike the other two primary pieces, Nicholas Castellanos is a free agent after this season, and because it’s not likely they’d extend a qualifying offer, they need to deal him now if they want any sort of return. His numbers are down a bit this year — from a 129 OPS+ last year to 108 — but he leads the AL with 36 doubles, which is nice. He won’t net a big return, but could be a nice backup plan for a contender.
Relivers Buck Farmer and Joe Jimenez could be available — at this point, pretty much everyone on the big league roster should be available — because true contention isn’t happening for at least a couple of years. Farmer has been solid (3.56 ERA/3.42 FIP) and he’s under club control for another three years, which is exactly the type of reliever contenders love to acquire (mostly because they HATE trading for rentals). And Jimenez is a bit erratic (5.05 ERA), but his ability to get swings and misses (12.7 K/9) will always be appealing. Like Farmer, he’s under club control for several more seasons.
Oh, and Trevor Rosenthal has eight strikeouts and two hits allowed (but, um, six walks) in six innings. The return would be minimal, of course, but if a contender could roll the dice on Rosenthal, the Tigers can roll the dice on potential prospects, too.
