Detroit Tigers: Rebuilds aren’t an exact science so tanking should be off table

Detroit Tigers players have been up and down this season. While trading off a few pieces at the trade deadline may be prudent, tanking isn’t.

Detroit Tigers fans have seen the team post a 43-51 record entering Friday.

The team’s record and run differential have largely been marred by an eight-game losing streak in mid-June which saw Detroit lose two straight at home to Tampa Bay before losing six consecutive games on the west coast against Seattle and San Diego.

This has put the team in a position where they are in somewhat of a selling mode.

Detroit has already offloaded J.D. Martinez to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see players like Justin Wilson and Alex Avila dealt as well.

Trading away pieces like this will help replenish the Tigers’ farm system, which is in dire need of… well everything.

There’s obvious top-end prospects like Matt Manning, Alex Faedo and Christin Stewart. All three have the chance to be impact players.

However, Detroit simply doesn’t have the organizational depth that teams like the Dodgers and Yankees do.

With the Tigers entering Friday eight games under .500 and 5.5 games back in the division, it may seem prudent to blow everything up and lose games in order to finish with a low record to snag a high draft pick to help the rebuild.

Detroit clearly needs young players to find sustained success, but the team shouldn’t be intentionally bad to rake in high draft picks.

Rebuilds can be tricky.