Detroit Tigers: Please Don’t Be Just Sellers

After the 0-9 shellacking the Detroit Tigers have been taking at the hands of the Cleveland Indians, the word on the street is that the Tigers will be sellers at the July trade deadline.

I’d like to offer an alternative. I’d like the Tigers to be buyers and sellers. Since, of course, they cannot buy without selling

Prior to the series with the Indians, the Tigers were all of four games back from the AL Central division. They were one game behind the Royals. Now, the Tigers are tied with the Chicago White Sox at 38-38, seven games back from the Indians and two games behind the Royals.

Needless-to-say, there is no way that the Tigers will win the Central if they cannot beat the Indians. And, it looks like they cannot beat the Indians with the team they have now. But, this is not a reason to sell off a plethora of assets. It is, however, a perfectly good reason to sell off a few duds and pick up a few winners.

But, who is available? At this time, there are only guesses as to what teams will sell and what teams will buy. Of course, the selling that the Tigers did at the deadline in 2015 got them Michael Fulmer, but it also eventually brought Justin Upton to the team due to the glaring hole that Yoenis Cespedes left when he was shipped to the New York Mets. The verdict is still out on whether or not the Upton purchase was worth it.

The Tigers have a solid infield with the exception of the offensive weaknesses with the platooning catcher. The other positional weakness is the lack of a bench player who is a true outfielder. The bench players themselves are also rather disappointing and Mike Aviles has even been compared to iconically bad hitters like Ryan Raburn, Don Kelly, and Brandon Inge. Andrew Romine isn’t much better.

The big empty holes that need to be filled are in the pitching rotation. The Tigers would be wise to NOT sell off any of the prospects, especially Fulmer and Daniel Norris and a handful of the minor leaguers who are looking good right now like Joe Jimenez, Beau Burrows, and Kevin Ziomek.

The rumor was that Steven Moya was going to be traded at the deadline so the Tigers could pick up a pitcher, but now that J.D. Martinez is out for a brief DL stint, Moya might stay a little longer than expected. 

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Unfortunately for the Tigers, there will be few deals to be made with starting pitchers because there are so few starting pitchers available. The few teams that might be selling include the Yankees, Blue Jays, Braves, Angels, Royals, A’s, and Brewers. The teams that will most surely be buying are teams like Cleveland (who might not need much), the Dodgers, and the Cardinals. One place the Tigers could go for pitching is Tampa Bay, the other is Oakland.

The Rays know how to build pitchers and Matt Moore could be available at the deadline. Rich Hill and Sonny Gray with the A’s could be available, too. Andrew Miller might also be a commodity on the market when the Yankees make their decision. These men will not come cheap, but if the Tigers want a chance before their old guys get too old – they’ll have to ditch some of the dead weight to get some new life.

Next: Prospects that Should Not Be Traded

The pieces the Tigers need to move include Mike Pelfrey and Anibal Sanchez (if anyone will take them). They could also get rid of their relief pitchers like Drew Verhagen, Mark Lowe, and Buck Farmer. Anthony Gose could be another trading chip. It might cost the Tigers a few players to get the pieces they really want, but with creativity Al Avila could get the job done. The fact that Joba Chamberlain is a valuable reliever on the Indian’s roster is proof that even the most likely players are worth something to someone.