Detroit Tigers: Predicting Ian Kinsler’s trade market

Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler is one of the team best trade chips heading into the offseason. It remains to be seen if he’s dealt, but if he is, these teams could be trade fits.

Detroit Tigers general manager Al Avila still has a number of significant trade chips at his disposal.

Dating back to the end of the 2016 season, Avila has traded outfielders Cameron Maybin, J.D. Martinez and Justin Upton, closer Justin Wilson, catcher Alex Avila and starting pitcher Justin Verlander for a haul of prospects who should help the Tigers eventually return to prominence.

Starting pitcher Franklin Perez, outfielder Daz Cameron and catcher Jake Rogers (all acquired in the Verlander deal) along with third baseman Jeimer Candelario and shortstop Isaac Paredes (brought in in the Wilson trade) add more talent to a promising farm system.

While they won’t all reach the Majors at once, the aforementioned prospects—along with the likes of Alex Faedo, Matt Manning, Christin Stewart, Beau Burrows, Kyle Funkhouser and Mike Gerber—set Detroit on a path to more sustained success in the future.

This is all without mentioning Grayson Long, part of the return in the Upton trade, who could be in the Tigers’ rotation sometime next season.

There’s also Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcantara and King, the three infield prospects acquired from Arizona for Martinez.

For the most part, Avila did extremely well in extracting value from his veteran performers.

However, he still has a number of prime trade chips.