Three days have passed since the trade deadline. Not a lot of big names were on the move, but such was the nature of this year's market.
Because of the lack of big names, teams were able to receive hefty returns for players that may not otherwise generate such a haul. But there is one team that may have missed the mark.
In his latest piece in The Athletic, Jim Bowden dunked on the Detroit Tigers for making arguably the worst trade when they sent right-hander Jack Flaherty to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"Flaherty was 7-5 with a 2.95 ERA," Bowden wrote on Friday. "He had 133 strikeouts and only 19 walks in 106 2/3 innings. He allowed one run or fewer in six of his last eight starts with Detroit. He was the best starting pitcher traded at the deadline. The return was just too light."
In exchange for the 28-year-old right-hander, the Tigers received catcher Thayron Liranzo and shortstop Trey Sweeney. It certainly wasn't a bad return, but Bowden correctly pointed out that it was just too light for the best starter available at the deadline.
The Tigers are already out of contention. Entering Friday's action, they had a 52-58 record and sat 8.5 games out in the American League Wild Card race and 15 games out in the AL Central.
They certainly could have done better with their return, even though the deadline lacked more quality names. Flaherty will be nothing more than a rental for the Dodgers, unless given a contract extension or re-signed in the offseason, but the Tigers missed a chance to capitalize on his value.
It was an odd deadline for sure, but it's clear that Bowden wasn't too high on the return Detroit received for their best starter.
More MLB: Dodgers a deadline winner thanks to last-second acquisition of 'top pitcher available'
