Detroit Tigers: Miami Marlins trade ideas

The (hypothetical) trade

This is all hypothetical mind you, but one conceivable trade could see Detroit acquire the two relievers for utility man Andrew Romine and a reliever already on the Tigers’ 40-man roster like Kyle Ryan.

Romine, according to Spotrac, is also set to hit free agency next winter, so Detroit might as well get something of value for him.

MLBTradeRumors projects the arbitration-eligible veteran to earn $1.9 million next season.

Meanwhile, Ryan wasn’t recalled to the Majors after a spell of early struggles.

The reliever allowed nine hits, seven walks and five runs in 5.2 Major League frames.

Moving the southpaw opens up more opportunities for fellow lefty Jairo Labourt in the bullpen.

Considering Miami doesn’t have the prospect capital to make the deal worth the Detroit Tigers while, the Marlins could use pitcher Adam Conley as a deal sweetener.

Overall, that would be Ziegler and Conley for Romine and Kyle Ryan.

Adam Conley

Conley also had a down year in 2017. He posted a -0.1 fWAR, a 6.14 ERA and a 5.62 FIP in 102.2 innings pitched.

The struggles were partly due to a drop in strikeouts from 8.37 punch outs per nine frames in 2016 down to 6.31 in 2017.

Conley also saw a spike in home runs allowed. The starter’s home runs allowed per nine inning rate jumped from 0.88 in 2016 to 1.67 this past season.

Still, if Conley can rebound, he could be an extremely valuable rotation piece.

Controllable through 2021, per Spotrac, and not even arbitration eligible until after next season, the Washington State product pitched to a 3.82 ERA, a 4.07 FIP and 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings in 200.1 innings from 2015 to 2016.

Looking to the future

Just 27, he could be a long-term rotation staple alongside Michael Fulmer.

Meanwhile, in regards to Ziegler, the Detroit Tigers could utilize him as setup options for Shane Greene in hopes of rebuilding his trade value.

A return to form for Ziegler would be particularly encouraging. After serving as Arizona’s closer for the first half of 2016, the veteran was flipped to Boston at the trade deadline for two prospects.

Ideally, at least in this hypothetical scenario, Detroit would only pay part of Ziegler salary as the hurler would be traded half way through the season.