Detroit Tigers Trade Avisail Garcia for Jose Iglesias in Three-Team Trade

Jul 9, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Mariners second baseman

(20) slides into Boston Red Sox shortstop Jose Iglesias (10) to break up the double play during the 1st inning at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

Dave Dombrowski indicated that the Detroit Tigers were done making trades earlier today, but word has leaked out late Tuesday night that team had acquired shortstop Jose Iglesias from the Boston Red Sox as part of a three-team deal that will send Jake Peavy from Chicago to Boston and Avisail Garcia from Detroit to Chicago. There are probably other names attached to this deal — rumors continue to swirl that the Tigers will also be sending a pitcher to Boston — so we perhaps don’t know the full extent of the deal quite yet.

Iglesias, known as a glove-first shortstop, has hit for a rather impressive .330/.377/.410 slash line in 231 plate appearances with the Red Sox this season, but he’s benefited greatly from a .377 BABIP and has cooled off significantly in June. Despite the strong year at the dish thus far, Iglesias (who’s just 23) owns a career OPS of .690 at the major league level and a career .622 OPS at the minor league level.

Questionable hitting prowess aside, Tigers fans can expect a considerable improvement in up-the-middle defense if/when Iglesis takes over the shortstop position. Small sample size alert, but Iglesias’ UZR/150 for his career at shortstop is +22. That’s good.

The trade probably indicates that the Tigers’ front office believes that Jhonny Peralta could begin serving a Biogenesis-related suspension in the near future, and with his impending free agent status, it likely means that Jhonny’s days as a Tiger are numbered.

With the loss of Danry Vasquez yesterday and Avisail Garcia today, the Tigers’ relatively strong depth at the outfield position has thinned considerably. Losing Garcia is a tough pill to swallow, but gaining a solid young shortstop who’s under team control through 2018 makes this a strong move for the Tigers.

Kudos to Grant Stoye for suggesting this sort of trade a month ago.

UPDATE: Brayan Villarreal is also going to Boston as part of this trade.