Detroit Tigers: Five Starting Pitching Trades

Dan Straily

Detroit may be hesitant to acquire another Cincinnati starter considering the way Alfredo Simon turned out, but Dan Straily is worth a flier.

The 27-year-old was acquired by the Reds on waivers at the beginning of April, so the team may be more open to dealing him considering they didn’t give up anything to bring him to Cincinnati in the first place.

Straily has a 3.56 ERA in 30.1 innings for the National League Central club this season, including 26 strikeouts. All told, his WAR is a solid 0.7.

The starting pitcher also has a solid track record in the big leagues. He finished fourth in the voting for American League Rookie of the Year in 2013 with Oakland. During that season, the 27-year-old went 10-8 with a 3.96 ERA and 124 strikeouts in 152.1 innings pitched (27 starts).

The Cincinnati Reds are bad, and they aren’t going to get much better. Entering Friday, the team is 13-17 through 29 games and are already 10 games back of the Chicago Cubs for first place in the division. The Atlanta Braves are the only franchise have a worse run differential than Cincinnati’s -50 number.

Given that the team is going nowhere, and top starting pitching prospects Robert Stephenson and Cody Reed are knocking on the door at Triple-A, Cincy could be inclined to move Straily.

Detroit could dangle a lottery-ticket type pitching prospect in return like Jeff Ferrell, Myles Jaye or Jose Valdez.