Detroit Tigers: Why A Potential Justin Wilson Trade Return Should Be Significant

Detroit Tigers reliever Justin Wilson’s name has come up in trade rumors recently. Should the team move the veteran pitcher in a trade, the return should be significant.

Detroit Tigers general manager Al Avila leaves the Winter Meetings with just one relatively significant move made.

The team brought in Daniel Stumpf via the Rule 5 draft.

While Avila also added two minor league players via the Triple-A portion of the draft, much of the rumors regarding the Tigers involved potentially trading away players.

As it happens, the names of Miguel Cabrera, J.D. Martinez, Justin Verlander and Ian Kinsler didn’t dominate the headlines. Instead of Detroit’s veterans with higher salaries, younger players with relatively inexpensive salaries drew trade interest.

Jose Iglesias was rumored to be of interest to the San Diego Padres, but much of the Tigers rumors coming from the Winter Meetings regarded reliever Justin Wilson.

Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi tweeted about Wilson on Tuesday morning, “Many teams at Winter Meetings looking for left-handed relief; the #Tigers’ Justin Wilson is a popular name, source says. @MLB.”

It is easy to see the appeal with Wilson. The reliever throws in the mid-90s and is coming off a season in which he struck out 9.97 batters per nine innings. Additionally, Wilson logged a 3.02 SIERA.

If the Detroit Tigers end up trading Justin Wilson, the return needs to be significant.