Detroit Tigers: National Reaction to Reboot Trades

The Detroit Tigers spent the better part of the last 48 hours feverishly trying to sell off pieces of the 2015 team, a team which they thought was another World Series contender but floundered for the last month, particularly since the All-Star break.

As late as Tuesday, the Tigers were still looking at buying. Perhaps the reality of humiliating loss after loss coupled with the fact that the team did not have many pieces in the farm system to fund yet another deadline shopping trip.

So it was after a rare win at the time, after a gem by Justin Verlander that the Tigers decided to put their pending free agents on the block and begin a reboot.

The distinction of reboot vs. rebuild is not only a calculated move to try to mitigate the box office drop. It is a specific game plan, one which we have suggested here at MCB for a long time after it appeared this Tigers’ team did not have what it took to truly compete in the American League this year.

The first domino to fall was David Price. His haul included: Daniel Norris, Matt Boyd and Jairo Labourt. This trio of LHP prospects (although Norris is MLB-ready and will start Sunday in Baltimore) were ranked #1, #2, #3 in the Toronto Blue Jays’ organization.

Joakim Soria was also traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He brought back one player, SS/OF JaCoby Jones.

Finally, Yoenis Cespedes went just minutes before the end of the deadline. He brought back two right handed hurlers Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa.

If you had any question on whether or not the trades would help the Tigers future, take a look at this:

So what has been the reaction to the trade locally and nationally? Hint: Very good.

Put it another way: Dave Dombrowski traded for Price. Price helped the 2014 Tigers win the AL Central by one game, and then he pitched in the playoffs. Granted, the Tigers got swept, but they got to use Price for their opportunity. Then they had Price for another four months. Now he’s been traded, for a strong group of young players. Even though Price himself has lost some value, given his imminent free agency, it looks like the Tigers managed to turn a profit here, overall. Fox Sports

Meanwhile, Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski — sneakily one of the game’s best traders — scores a solid haul of three lefty pitchers, two of whom already near big-league ready. Daniel Norris has struggled a bit in 2015, but entered the year one of the game’s best-regarded pitching prospects thanks to an excellent 2014 campaign that saw him pitch at every level from Class A Advanced to the Majors. Matt Boyd was hit hard in a two-start big league stint, but owns a 1.68 ERA with outstanding rate stats in 112 1/3 innings across Class AA and AAA action in 2015. USA Today

(Picked as third-biggest winners of deadline) Tigers: It’s been a bad summer for Detroit and, at least as far as the public was concerned, they weren’t selling until about 48 hours ago. But in that 48 hours they got a lot of something out of what would’ve been nothing after this lost season. David Price was not going to sign with the Tigers after this year and, at most, they’d get a first round pick for him if they held on. Instead they got three nice arms in Daniel Norris, Matt Boyd and Jairo Labourt. Like the Cincy trio, all of these guys will figure in the Tigers’ major league future. They wouldn’t have even gotten a draft pick for Yoenis Cespedes, so getting a couple of arms for him — including a nice one in Double-A pitcher Michael Fulmer — was a decent return. Detroit sure didn’t want to sell, but if they had to, they did well. NBC Sports

“Jones is a quality young prospect,” Dombrowski said. “He was a third-round choice a couple years ago out of Louisiana State University. Just promoted to Double-A. Was one of the leading hitters in the Florida State League. It was a situation to get a real good middle infielder in our organization in exchange for Joakim, based on what we’ve been discussing.” Detroit Free Press

Next: Cespedes traded to Mets