Detroit Tigers Rumors: Rick Porcello for Yoenis Cespedes deal in the “makings”

The Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox have been oft-rumored trading partners this season and one national pundit thinks a possible deal is getting closer to becoming reality.

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The Tigers and Red Sox have something each other desires. The Tigers have starting pitching depth, the Red Sox have a million outfielders. Boston is trying to unload Yoenis Cespedes, picked up for Jon Lester last summer from the Oakland Athletics, as the Cuban outfielder’s contract expires at the end of 2015.

Detroit has two pitchers fitting that scenario: David Price and Rick Porcello. It seems Ricky P. is an annual trade candidate and nearly went to Washington last year instead of Doug Fister.

This afternoon, Jayson Stark had this to say about a possible Detroit-Boston deal:

This is an interesting take. Most assumed a deal would be straight up, Porcello for Cespedes, yet the Tigers may be asking for the Red Sox to send a starter back. Problem is they don’t really have many legitimate starting pitchers on their roster currently. What they do have is a very deep farm system and the Tigers may be able to pluck out a young candidate for the rotation that may be a better option than the young arms that had spot starts in 2014 like Kyle Lobstein, Buck Farmer and Robbie Ray.

I have always liked Cespedes and was hoping the Tigers would land him when he entered MLB as an international free agent prior to the 2012 season. Detroit was heavily involved with him until they reversed course and sunk a bunch of money into Prince Fielder. Cespedes does fit the Tigers transition to a speedy and defensive-minded team, yet will he stick around past 2015?

Porcello may not stuck around past 2015 either, so that’s the chance you take. Rick is coming off his best year as a professional, but he struggled mightily down the stretch.

Also, if Porcello goes, does that change the Tigers plan of action in resigning Max Scherzer? With 2/5th of the 2014 starting rotation gone, it might be too much to ask for the Tigers to fill those two spots in the rotation, unless they surprise everyone and spurn Max for James Shields or Lester.

But if the Tigers can receive a  piece for the future and begin to retool on the fly, the deal might be a very good one for Detroit.