Morosi: Tigers Looking to Move Brad Thomas

I don’t often delve into trade rumors on this site, at least not during the regular season and when the player involved is so expendable, but when I gave the update on Brad Thomas‘ rehab assignment yesterday, commenter Ben asked if the Tigers could be looking to trade the southpaw. My thoughts were that even if they did want to trade Thomas, they’d have a hard time finding a suitor.

This morning Fox Sports’ Jon Paul Morosi is reporting that the Tigers are indeed gauging the trade market for their injured Aussie, but it’s “not clear if any teams have emerged as serious suitors.”

Still, the idea that Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski is exploring the options with Thomas indicate exactly my line of thinking here. Thomas is the fourth or fifth best option for a Tigers bullpen that already employs more left handers than most teams around baseball. Adding him to the mix would simply weaken an already shaky unit.

Thomas makes only $800,000 this year and his rights could be retained as an arbitration eligible player beyond this season. If the team decides to designate him for assignment, as I expect they will, they will have ten days to trade or release the player. Thomas has shown during his nine innings or rehab work that he can pitch effectively, though his control problems are still evident at Triple-A.

Still, he’s left handed and breathing, so he’ll find work somewhere. The question really is whether or not some team will bite on a trade or simply wait for Dombrowski to cut his left hander and swoop in at that time.

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