Detroit Tigers: Potential offseason 40-man roster departures

Detroit Tigers general manager Al Avila will need to add some prospects to the 40-man roster this offseason. Here are the most likely players to be moved to make room.

Detroit Tigers fans have endured a tough season.

After seeing the team fall out of the playoff race and trade away stars like Justin Verlander, J.D. Martinez and Justin Upton.

Now, the rest of this season—and likely part of next season—is about finding players who will be on the next great Tigers team.

That future team will likely include some combination of Franklin Perez, Christin Stewart, Mike Gerber, Matt Manning, Grayson Long, Alex Faedo, Derek Hill, Jake Rogers, Daz Cameron and Isaac Paredes among others.

Perez, Stewart, Gerber and Long could conceivably arrive sometime in 2018 to join a Major League core that also features Michael Fulmer, Jeimer Candelario, Mikie Mahtook, Shane Greene, Nicholas Castellanos and Joe Jimenez.

They could be joined by other prospects like Beau Burrows, Bryan Garcia, Mark Ecker, Paul Voelker, Matt Hall and Grayson Greiner.

As it stands, none of those prospects are currently on the 40-man roster. If Detroit wants to add any of them to the team this offseason—particularly players like Gerber, Hill and Voelker who will need to be added as they are potentially eligible for the Rule 5 draft—the Tigers will need 40-man roster space.

Presently with a full 40-man roster, here are the players who could conceivably depart Detroit to make room for the prospects, as well as potential offseason additions.

Chad Bell

Chad Bell showed early promise as a long reliever early in the season, allowing just 16 hits, seven walks, five earned runs and three home runs in his first 20.1 innings.

That spits out to a 2.21 ERA.

However, Bell hasn’t showed the same promise as of late, with 55 hits, 35 runs (34 earned), 19 walks and seven home runs allowed in his last 35.1 frames.

That spits out to a 8.91 ERA.

The 28-year-old has been hit particularly hard since moving into the starting rotation, posting a 9.75 ERA, a 5.41 FIP and a 5.18 xFIP in his three starts. None of those three starts has reached the five-inning plateau.

Bryan Holaday

A September call up by the Tigers, Holaday was added to the 40-man roster to serve as the team’s third catcher.

If the Tigers decide to go younger with a third catcher, they could replace the veteran Holaday with Greiner, who ended 2017 with Triple-A Toledo.

Efren Navarro

Another September addition to the 40-man roster, Navarro is a more than capable defender at first base, but entered Sunday with just three hits and a walk in 25 plate appearances.

A lifetime .236 hitter with a .606 OPS, Detroit may find it more prudent in the long run to utilize someone like Dominic Ficociello, or even Stewart as an alternative to Miguel Cabrera at first base.

Ian Kinsler

Arguably the Detroit Tigers’ best trade chip, Kinsler could bring in even more prospects to aid the rebuild.

Despite a down season (88 wRC+, .313 on-base percentage), Kinsler is still registering a 2.1 WAR thanks to some excellent defense and base running.

The 36-year-old’s trade value could also be helped by the fact that he’s a better option compared to pretty much every free agent on the market.

Free agent second baseman this winter will include the likes of Brandon Phillips, Chase Utley and Neil Walker.

Jose Iglesias

Another one of general manager Al Avila’s best trade chips, Iglesias also stands out as being a superior player compared the vast majority of the free agent class at his position.

With the exception of perhaps Zack Cozart, Iglesias is a much more complete option than the potential free agents such as J.J. Hardy, Eduardo Nunez and Alcides Escobar.

Anibal Sanchez

Per Spotrac, the 33-year-old has a $16 million option on his contract for next season. Detroit can buy him out for $5 million.

With Sanchez sporting a -0.3 WAR, a 6.00 FIP and allowing 2.65 home runs per nine frames in 88.1 innings, it would make sense for the Tigers to move on and hand his innings to the likes of Buck Farmer, Artie Lewicki and eventually Perez, Long and Burrows.

Bruce Rondon

Rondon shows obvious talent on the mound, but wasn’t recalled when rosters expanded in September despite being on the 40-man roster and having thrown in the Majors this season.

He pitched to a 10.91 ERA in 15.2 Major League innings this year. However, his 3.28 FIP and 3.94 xFIP indicated he was better than his ERA would suggest.

It obviously remains to be seen if the right-hander sticks with the Detroit Tigers.

Tyler Collins

Collins is still controllable through 2021 via arbitration, because of that, he could conceivably stick around.

That being said, however, the outfielder has already been designated for assignment this season and has fallen behind Mikie Mahtook, Nicholas Castellanos, Alex Presley and JaCoby Jones in the outfield pecking order.

With Gerber and Stewart knocking on the door, the Tigers could conceivably move on from Collins to clear up space in the outfield.

Alex Presley

Given his production down the stretch (.351 on-base percentage, .324 wOBA), Presley could make for one of general manager Al Avila’s better trade chips this offseason.

Similar to Collins, the 32-year-old could be moved in order to make way for the team’s top outfield prospects on the 40-man unit.

With Gerber potentially ready to contribute as soon as Opening Day, it would be prudent to move Presley for a prospect to help sustain future success.