Detroit Tigers: Trade ideas involving the Washington Nationals

Absorbing Matt Wieters’ contract and adding Erick Fedde in the proccess

The Washington Nationals are in definite go for broke, win-now move—or so it would seem.

After getting knocked out of the National League Division Series by the Cubs, Washington will enter 2018 with a number of key performers playing out the final years of their respective contracts.

The group includes Bryce Harper, Gio Gonzalez, Daniel Murphy and Ryan Madson.

Elsewhere, the club could lose a number of supporting players this offseason as Jayson Werth, Howie Kendrick, Joe Blanton, Oliver Perez, Brandon Kintzler and Stephen Drew will hit the free agent market.

Despite the money coming off the books, the Nats might not have much financial flexibility in the winter.

For starters (according to Spotrac), Harper’s contract will jump from $13.625 million to $21.625 million in 2018.

Elsewhere, Adam Eaton (per Spotrac) and Sean Doolittle (according to the same publication) will also see upticks in salary.

The ex-White Sox outfielder will go from making $4 million to $6 million. Meanwhile, Doolittle’s salary rises from $2.63 million to $4.38 million.

What’s more, Anthony Rendon and Tanner Roark will go through another year of arbitration, while Michael Taylor will go through the process for the first time this winter on the back of a breakout 2017 that saw him notch a 3.1 fWAR in 118 games.

The Detroit Tigers role in the (hypothetical) proceedings

If the Nationals want to improve upon 2017’s finish, they’ll likely need some upgrades. This means clearing out some salary.

As it stands, one conceivable candidate to be moved to create some financial flexibility is catcher Matt Wieters.

A former stalwart with the Baltimore Orioles, things didn’t exactly go swimmingly for the 31-year-old in the nation’s capital.

With four career seasons with at least a 2.1 fWAR on his resume—not to mention a 17.7 lifetime number—Wieters turned in his first negative number in the category in 2017.

The backstop checked in with a -0.2 fWAR and registered new career-lows in wRC+ (62), wOBA (.273) and ISO (.180).

Wieters is set to earn $10.5 million next season (per Spotrac) if he exercises his player option for the campaign.

Should he do that, he’d be a conceivable trade candidate for the Nationals—especially considering Washington’s catchers finished last in the league in WAR, wOBA and wRC+.

Moving Wieters would free up more money for the Nats to make an addition at catcher as they pursue a World Series trophy.

The hypothetical deal:

Detroit Tigers acquire C Matt Wieters and SP Erick Fedde

Washington Nationals acquire P Warwick Saupold

Acquiring him in a hypothetical trade would simply be an avenue for the Detroit Tigers to add more prospects in a salary-dump type deal.

One player the Tigers could acquire along with Wieters would be right-handed starter Erick Fedde.

Erick Fedde and the potential fit in Detroit

The 18^th-overall pick in the 2014 draft, Fedde worked to a 3.69 ERA in 90.1 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A. He also earned three starts with the Nationals.

Utilizing a pitching troika consisting of a fastball, slider and changeup, Fedde isn’t a finished product at the Major League level yet, but could be a long-term rotation option next to Michael Fulmer in the Motor City.

If Washington goes all in for 2018, there wouldn’t be much room in the rotation for Fedde with former Tiger Max Scherzer heading up a rotation that also includes Stephen Strasburg, Gonzalez, Roark and Joe Ross. A.J. Cole can also work out of the rotation.

In return for Wieters and Fedde, Detroit could send a pitcher already on the team’s 40-man roster to Washington in this hypothetical salary dump.

Detroit could send Warwick Saupold or Chad Bell to Washington to give the Nats an extra depth piece for the rotation.

Wieters would in no way unseat James McCann behind the plate, but his presence would allow Detroit to utilize John Hicks at first base more.

This, in turn, would let Miguel Cabrera see more time at designated hitter, lengthening his career in the process.

Detroit clears the way for some younger players while adding future pieces

At this point, the Detroit Tigers should be all about developing the youth on the team’s roster. The best way to do that is to give the younger players opportunities to stick and develop in the Majors.

However, Detroit will need some veterans on the roster. Cabrera seems likely to stick around. So could Shane Greene and Nicholas Castellanos.

It’s also conceivable that the front office will add a stop-gap veteran or two this offseason. A starting pitcher and a reliever, each on a one-year deal would certainly make sense.

If Detroit signs an extra veteran reliever like Fernando Abad, Seung-hwan Oh or Brandon Kintzler, the team should look to move Alex Wilson.

Even if the Tigers don’t make another bullpen addition, Wilson is a conceivably trade chip. He did suffer a fractured leg late last season, but that injury shouldn’t impact him long-term.

The right-hander has two seasons of club control left (according to Spotrac), which should hypothetically up his trade value some.

There’s also a potential need in Washington, where key bullpen contributors, Matt Albers, Kintzler and Oliver Perez will become free agents at the end of the World Series.

Wilson would give Washington a seventh-inning option to pair with or supplant Enny Romero and Koda Glover.

Replacing Wilson

What’s more, the Detroit Tigers aren’t short of options to replace the veteran.

Daniel Stumpf would seem the obvious candidate to step into the eighth-inning role, while a number of younger relievers could also replace Wilson.

Joe Jimenez, Jairo Labourt, Zac Reininger and Victor Alcantara were all hit around to varying degrees in their first taste of Major League action.

That being said, all four aren’t likely to struggle as significantly next season.

At least one of them should take a step forward next season.

Detroit will also have the likes of Bryan Garcia, Paul Voelker, Adam Ravenelle and Mark Ecker around at some point in 2018.

Additionally, if Blaine Hardy and Drew VerHagen can pitch effectively in relief as they each did earlier in their respective careers, it would go a long ways to helping the bullpen.

The hypothetical deal:

Detroit Tigers acquire RP Trevor Gott and P Nick Raquet.

Washington Nationals acquire RP Alex Wilson and UTIL Andrew Romine.

Breaking down the hypothetical trade

In the same way that moving Wilson clears the way for younger relievers to step into prominent roles, trading Romine would allow similar opportunities for position players.

While the utility player saw plenty of time around the infield in 2017, he spent the bulk of his innings on the outfield grass.

Dealing Romine would help alleviate the log jam that is the Detroit Tigers outfield situation.

Nicholas Castellanos should continue to start in right field, while one of the other two spots has Mikie Mahtook’s name on it.

In an ideal world, Detroit would be able to utilize Christin Stewart and Mike Gerber in the final outfield spot.

However, neither are currently on the 40-man roster.

Some outfielders that are on the 40-man roster, and aren’t long-term fits based on production or age, include Tyler Collins, Jim Adduci, Presley and Romine.

There’s also JaCoby Jones, but he needs to hit more at the Major League level.

Trading Romine also helps Detroit clear up more at-bats for Dixon Machado, Kody Eaves and eventually Dawel Lugo.

Additionally, dealing the utility ace to the Nationals as a replacement for the similarly versatile Howie Kendrick makes sense.

Not only would Washington add a potential outfield option, but Romine would give the team an extra infield option to pair with Wilmer Difo on the bench.

The Detroit Tigers (hypothetical) trade return

In return, the Tigers would snag a Major-League ready reliever in Gott and an intriguing pitching prospect in Nick Raquet.

Gott could immediately step in for Wilson later in games.

Controllable through the 2022 season according to the folks at Spotrac, Gott pitched to a 3.02 ERA, a 3.74 FIP and 5.1 strikeouts per nine innings in 47.2 frames with the Angels in 2015.

While he hasn’t missed many bats in the Majors, the reliever hasn’t really had the opportunity to break into Washington’s bullpen, with just nine innings to his name in the Majors since being traded from Anaheim in the Yunel Escobar trade.

Despite the lack of punch outs in the Majors, Gott has shown better in the minors. The reliever punched out 8.4 batters per nine frames with Triple-A Syracuse in 2017.

He also worked to a 3.86 ERA, a 3.41 xFIP and a 3.28 FIP at the minors’ highest level. If the right-hander can pitch to similar numbers once again in the Majors, he could prove to be a steal.

Nick Raquet

The last piece of the hypothetical deal is Nick Raquet.

A third-round pick, Raquet mixes in four pitches—a fastball, a curveball, a slider and a changeup.

The William and Mary product turned in a productive encouraging debut campaign with a 2.37 ERA in 53.1 innings split between the Gulf Coast League and the New York-Pennsylvania League.

His 4.1 strikeouts per nine frames are somewhat concerning, but the southpaw’s stuff should eventually help him miss more bats.

Next: These 3 Tigers should absolutely not be traded this offseason

Long-term, he could be a part of a promising pitching staff that will include some combination of Franklin Perez, Matt Manning, Beau Burrows, Alex Faedo, Kyle Funkhouser, Garcia, Jason Foley, Grayson Long, Gregory Soto and Sandy Baez among others.