Detroit Tigers offseason priority should be finding young position players to build around

Detroit Tigers fans could conceivably see a number of trades in the offseason. In a perfect world, the Tigers will be able to add young position players via those trades.

Detroit Tigers general manager Al Avila did well at the trade deadline to beef up the team’s farm system.

Avila began the team’s rebuild by trading the likes of Justin Verlander, J.D. Martinez, Justin Upton, Alex Avila and Justin Wilson for a host of prospects.

Deals for Verlander, Martinez, Avila and Wilson netted the team a bevy position player prospects in Daz Cameron, Jake Rogers, Dawel Lugo, Jose King, Sergio Alcantara, Jeimer Candelario and Isaac Paredes.

While those players will certainly help the rebuild, more position players are needed.

Before the trades, Detroit’s best position player prospects included the likes of Christin Stewart, Derek Hill and Mike Gerber.

All three have promising futures, but Stewart and Hill represent a bit of a rarity for the Tigers.

The duo were position players selected in the first-round of the draft.

Sure, you can find talent elsewhere—Gerber was a 15^th-round selection, Martinez went in the 20^th round.

However, the first round is where much of the impact talent in the draft is taken.

First-round picks through the years

In fact, since the turn of the century, the Tigers have selected just six non-pitchers in the first round.

Those six would be Michael Woods Scott Moore, Cameron Maybin, Nicholas Castellanos, Hill and Stewart.

The Tigers need to add young position players in the offseason, preferably players the team can build around.

Long term the likes of Candelario, Stewart, Paredes, Cameron and Rogers have the potential to be franchise building blocks.

However, not all prospects pan out, so some more options would be prudent.

With Paredes, Cameron, Rodgers and Hill still a few years away from debuting, Detroit could use more players like Candelario in terms of being closer to the Majors.

This is obviously easier said than done, but it’s what the Detroit Tigers should be doing.

How the Detroit Tigers can pull it off

While the trades of Verlander, Upton, Martinez and others brought in promising prospects, it also left the team’s cupboard slightly bare in terms of trade chips.

Second baseman Ian Kinsler is perhaps the team’s best position player trade candidate, but it remains to be seen just what the second baseman could net in a deal.

The veteran’s offense hasn’t been at the same level it once was, with his on-base percentage falling to .315 and his wRC+ slipping to 91.

Part of this likely due to a .244 BABIP, which is on track to be the third-worst rate of Kinsler’s career.

Still, Kinsler has been productive enough defensively and in the fields to register a 2.3 WAR. While that’s nowhere close to his WAR stats in his first three seasons in Detroit, it shows he can still add value.

The Tigers probably could have gotten a high-end prospect out for Kinsler if they moved him last year. In 2016 the veteran turned in a 5.7 WAR, 123 wRC+ and .356 wOBA.

Still, teams know what Kinsler brings to the table, and they likely won’t be put off by one down season.

That being said, Detroit’s best chance of adding another position player prospect may be by trading closer Shane Greene.

Shane Greene

Unlike with Kinsler at second base—not to mention a handful of other positions—Detroit has a ready-made replacement for Greene in Alex Wilson.

Elsewhere, there is a steady stream of relievers moving through the system.

Joe Jimenez, Jairo Labourt, Zac Reininger and Victor Alcantara all debuted this season. Next season, Bryan Garcia, Mark Ecker and Paul Voelker could join them in the Majors.

A controllable reliever with a knack for stranding runners, as well as the ability to pitch in a variety of different roles, Greene stands out as arguably Detroit’s best trade chip.

Moving the closer would allow the Tigers to net a premium return while paving the way for Alex Wilson to take over as closer.

Additionally, there should be no shortage of a market for Greene if Detroit decides to move him.

It would be a different story with a player like Kinsler or Iglesias, as many teams already have a solution at second base or shortstop.

However, all teams need relievers, especially quality ones like Greene.

He would be a fit on a team seeking a closer as well as a team in search of an extra late-inning option. The right-hander could also appeal to clubs as a pitcher able to work in a multiple inning, Andrew Miller-type role.

Future implications

Without Greene, who per Spotrac is controllable through the 2020 campaign, the Detroit Tigers would obviously lose an impact closer.

But the reality is that the Tigers might not be all that great next season, and the biggest luxury on a losing team is a closer.

If Greene departs, Alex Wilson can step in as closer. This would allow the likes of Jimenez, Garcia, Ecker and Labourt to ease into late inning options.

With two seasons of controllability left (according to Spotrac), Detroit can build Wilson’s trade value as a closer before moving him for additional prospects at next season’s trade deadline.

Young position players

In an ideal world, Detroit would be able to extract a young middle infielder with impact potential in a trade for Greene.

Those kinds of players don’t exactly grow on trees, but if the 2017 trade deadline taught us anything, it’s that pitchers are king in terms of trade value in today’s game.

Any kind of young position player would be a welcome addition to the Tigers, but the need up the middle stands out.

The only suitable replacement for Kinsler on the current roster is Dixon Machado.

The only suitable replacement for Kinsler’s double play partner, Jose Iglesias is—you guessed it—Dixon Machado.

Plugging in the slick-fielding Machado at either middle infield position is fine long term. However, he obviously can’t play two positions at once.