2 Tigers who deserve a promotion to the MLB roster, 2 who should be sent to Triple-A

The winds of change are in the air. The unofficial last chance to make a splash, the July 31 trade deadline, is just days away; however, that won't be the only avenue that the Detroit Tigers take to shore up their roster for the stretch run.

In fact, front office czar Scott Harris has made it clear that the Tigers will be measured in their approach, balancing present needs with an impressive talent pipeline that could set the foundation for a dynastic run.

With that said, Detroit has been stumbling as of late and has not looked like the early-season juggernaut they once were coming out of the All-Star break. Detroit has some things that need to be cleaned up. They need some strikeout punch in the bullpen, as well as some late-inning stabilization.

On the position player side of things, shortstop has been an issue, center field is a question mark, and fans would love to reunite with a slugging prodigal son to cement the hot corner. With all that said, the impressive versatility of some key contributors, such as Zach McKinstry and Javy Baez, has allowed Detroit to effectively plug some of those holes to a reasonable degree.

Instead, augmenting some of their internal solutions by swapping out underperforming pieces for youngsters knocking on the door of the big leagues might be the key focus. Most of Detroit's most exciting prospects, like Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle, aren't quite ready for primetime yet, but there are a handful of intriguing options toiling at Triple-A Toledo who could serve to improve the club enough at the margins to make an impact.

2 Tigers who deserve promotion to the MLB roster, 2 who should be sent to Triple-A

Top infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee deserves his first taste of big league action

While he might not generate as much buzz as Kevin McGonigle or Bryce Rainer, Hao-Yu Lee is no slouch in his own right, showing the strength of the Tigers' system at the middle infield positions. Lee ranks as the Tigers' No. 7 overall prospect according to MLB.com, and does a little bit of everything.

Lee could serve as a bench bat who can take some reps at the hot corner and second base, or he could be part of yet another shuffle to reconfigure the lineup, taking over at third full-time with Zach McKinstry shifting to short and Javy Baez to center. As an added bonus, by getting his feet wet now, Detroit will get a look to see if his bat plays well enough to take over second base should Gleyber Torres price himself out of the Tigers' budget this offseason.

Parker Meadows needs to head to Toledo to figure things out (once he's off the IL)

The wait continues for Parker Meadows to find himself anywhere close to his top prospect billing. While injuries derailed the start of Meadows' season, it was understandable that he'd need time to shake off the rust. However, as time has gone on, his struggles have only increased with his strikeout rate jumping by over 10% to 35.8% in July, up from 25% in June, while his walk rate has been cut in half, dropping from 10.7% to 5.7%.

Detroit has other center field options, including utility man Matt Vierling, who has struggled in his own right, but has a longer track record of acceptable production with added versatility that Meadows doesn't bring to the table. With Meadows now on the 10-day IL as of Monday, it gives the Tigers time to figure things out without having to make the tough decision. But it still might be necessary once he's activated.

Triple-A reliever PJ Poulin could provide the strikeout punch the bullpen lacks

As the cracks in the Tigers' bullpen become more and more pronounced, they could look to an internal option to strengthen their performance in the middle innings. 29-year-old PJ Poulin might not be the most exciting name, but his 33.3% strikeout rate for Triple-A Toledo indicates he might be able to add some punch the unit is lacking.

Since being drafted by the Colorado Rockies back in 2018, the southpaw has posted double-digit K/9 numbers at nearly every stop in his minor league journey. A healthy 46.8% ground ball rate this year has also helped him generate a more-than-respectable 3.48 ERA.

Chase Lee has been way too homer-prone to stay in the big league bullpen

Soon-to-be 27-year-old righty Chase Lee has been just one of the problems in the Tigers' pen, but he's also likely the easiest to be replaced. While on the surface his 4.21 ERA might not seem terrible, his sinker-slider combo has not generated enough ground balls and instead is resulting in a lot of hard contact in the air.

Lee has posted a 1.73 HR/9 rate over his 36 1/3 innings of work, while his 39.8% hard-hit rate shows that his performance has been much worse than his actual results. The more opportunities he gets, the more likely it is that he implodes and looks more like a pitcher who has a very subpar 5.26 xERA.