Detroit Tigers should make this trade with the San Diego Padres

Tigers gets value for Jose Iglesias in the form of two players called Travis

The trade:

Detroit Tigers acquire: pitcher Travis Wood and outfielder Travis Jankowski.

San Diego Padres acquire: shortstop Jose Iglesias and reliever Blaine Hardy.

The San Diego Padres have a pair of promising, emphasis on “promising”, middle-infielders coming through the minor league system in elite prospects Luis Urias and Fernando Tatis Jr.

However, neither are exactly Major-league ready.

Urias spent 2017 with Double-A while Tatis Jr. only made it to the level for a 14-game stint towards the end of the season.

Moving forward, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see either of the players in the majors sometime in 2019.

Until then, San Diego will need a shortstop to step in and hold down the fort.

Iglesias would be a fit in San Diego, where his defensive ability would play well next to Carlos Asuaje.

He would also be an upgrade offensively.

By comparison, here’s how Detroit’s starting shortstop stacked up offensively against his counterparts with the National League West franchise last season.

Jose Iglesias 2017 stats: 1.6 fWAR, 71 wRC+, .283 wOBA, .255 batting average, .288 on-base percentage, .369 slugging percentage, .114 ISO, 4.3% walk rate and a 13.3% strikeout percentage.

2017 Padres shortstop stats: -2.5 fWAR, 61 wRC+, .263 wOBA, .215 batting average, .278 on-base percentage, .323 slugging percentage, a .109 ISO, 7.0% walk rate and a 22.3% strikeout rate.

It should be noted as well that 2017 was a definite down year offensively for Iglesias. Here’s how he fared from 2015 to 2016.

Jose Iglesias 2015-2016 stats: 3.6 fWAR, 84 wRC+, .298 wOBA, .276 batting average, .325 on-base percentage, .352 slugging percentage, .076 ISO, 5.5% walk rate and a 9.7% strikeout rate.

Some of this regression was likely due to Iglesias’ BABIP dropping from a cumulative .302 from 2016 and 2016 to a .285 number last season.