Detroit Tigers: Rebuilds aren’t an exact science so tanking should be off table

Detroit Tigers players have been up and down this season. While trading off a few pieces at the trade deadline may be prudent, tanking isn’t.

Detroit Tigers fans have seen the team post a 43-51 record entering Friday.

The team’s record and run differential have largely been marred by an eight-game losing streak in mid-June which saw Detroit lose two straight at home to Tampa Bay before losing six consecutive games on the west coast against Seattle and San Diego.

This has put the team in a position where they are in somewhat of a selling mode.

Detroit has already offloaded J.D. Martinez to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see players like Justin Wilson and Alex Avila dealt as well.

Trading away pieces like this will help replenish the Tigers’ farm system, which is in dire need of… well everything.

There’s obvious top-end prospects like Matt Manning, Alex Faedo and Christin Stewart. All three have the chance to be impact players.

However, Detroit simply doesn’t have the organizational depth that teams like the Dodgers and Yankees do.

With the Tigers entering Friday eight games under .500 and 5.5 games back in the division, it may seem prudent to blow everything up and lose games in order to finish with a low record to snag a high draft pick to help the rebuild.

Detroit clearly needs young players to find sustained success, but the team shouldn’t be intentionally bad to rake in high draft picks.

Rebuilds can be tricky.

The first round of the draft

Here’s the thing, teams don’t necessarily need a high draft pick in the first round to find impact or a star talent—they just need a first rounder, if that.

Often times, the star players are found outside of the first few picks

There have been plenty of successful former first-overall picks in recent memory, from Bryce Harper and Carlos Correa to Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg.

However, there have also been players who haven’t panned out. Tim Beckham, Luke Hochevar and Bryan Bullington all have or had career WAR numbers below 4.0.

Past drafts

The 2012 draft, which was headlined by Correa, featured seven first-rounders who currently own a WAR over 5.0.

Correa predictably leads the pack. However, he’s followed by Corey Seager (18^th-overall pick), Addison Russell (11^th), Marcus Stroman (22^nd), Michael Wacha (19^th) and Lance McCullers (5.8). Baltimore right-hander Kevin Gausman is the only other top-five pick on the list.

Moving back a year, the 2010 draft has had seven players with lifetime WARs currently sitting north of 10.

Four of the seven were taken with double-digit picks, including Sonny Gray (18^th) and Jackie Bradley Jr. (40^th).

2009 and 2013

The 2009 and 2013 drafts are perhaps the best examples of how impact players can be found outside of the first few picks.

The 2009 edition of the draft obviously saw Strasburg go first overall. However, it also saw Mike Trout selected 25^th.

Other notable double-digit picks in the first round that year included A.J. Pollack (17^th), Shelby Miller (19^th) and Randal Grichuk (24^th).

Meanwhile, of the top six first-rounders in the 2013 draft in terms of WAR, only two were top-10 picks.

Otherwise, the list includes the likes of Sean Manea (34^th), Tim Anderson (17^th), Corey Knebel (39^th) and Michael Lorenzen (38^th).

One player who will likely see his career WAR rise over the coming seasons is Aaron Judge. Judge is having a monster season for the Yankees in 2017, and was taken by New York with the 32^nd pick back in 2013.

The Detroit Tigers’ own Michael Fulmer was the 44^th-overall pick by the Mets in 2011.

Staying in the first round

Given the unpredictably and uncertainness of where impact players have been drafted in the first round over the years, the Tigers simply need to pick in the opening round to have a shot at landing promising talent.

Considering the organization is moving away from inflated contracts, it seems unlikely that the Detroit Tigers will be signing any free agents who would cost a draft pick any time soon.

Because of this, the team should have a chance to partially restock the farm system every year.

Late-round gems

In some instances, there are diamonds in the rough later in drafts.

Mookie Betts and Justin Turner, who are fifth and sixth in WAR among Major League position players, were respective fourth and seventh-round picks.

Corey Kluber and Chris Archer, the fourth and sixth ranked pitchers in WAR, were fourth and fifth round picks respectively.

Copy the 2016 Yankees

The Detroit Tigers clearly need to change things up, but they shouldn’t go for a complete tear-down. The team needs to target young players who can be plugged in right away or by 2018.

That’s easier said than done, but it is what Detroit needs to do.

Los Angeles’ Alex Verdugo and Willie Calhoun, Houston’s Derek Fisher, Milwaukee’s Brett Phillips and Brandon Woodruff and Washington’s Erick Fedde all qualify.

What’s more, all are all conceivable trade targets should the Tigers move Justin Wilson to one of the aforementioned teams.

Detroit should follow the Yankees’ blue print from 2016.

The Yankees, who entered that season’s trade deadline with an even 44-44 record, flipped veterans Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Carlos Beltran and Ivan Nova for an overwhelming haul of prospects.

Of the group, Miller was the only player who wasn’t on an expiring contract.

Dealing those players certainly hasn’t impacted New York’s ability to contend this season, as the Bronx Bombers are in the thick of races for both the Wild Card and the American League East.

While Detroit’s current trade chips—Justin Wilson, Alex Avila and perhaps Anibal Sanchez and Jose Iglesias—may not net the same kind of return, the Tigers will be in a solid position if they can get full value at the deadline.

Moving forward

In that scenario, the team can move forward with a young nucleus in the next few seasons that features the newly-acquired players young players along with the likes of Fulmer, Stewart, Joe Jimenez, Mikie Mahtook, Daniel Norris, Nicholas Castellanos, Bruce Rondon, Mike Gerber, Matt Boyd and Beau Burrows.

With a young core like that supported by veterans such as Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander and Justin Upton, the Tigers will be in a place to stay competitive without enduring a lengthy rebuild with no light at the end of the tunnel.

Eventually players like Jimenez and Norris are going to start making good on their immense potential.

Next: Here's what we thought of the J.D. Martinez trade

When that happens, the Detroit Tigers will hopefully be back in contention.