Detroit Tigers should make this trade with the Seattle Mariners

Detroit adds a young position player to the team’s nucleus

The trade:

Detroit Tigers acquire: first baseman Dan Vogelbach

Seattle Mariners acquire: relief pitcher Alex Wilson

Alex Wilson may not have the same trade value as fellow Tigers reliever Shane Greene.

However, the former Red Sox hurler should still be able to bring back a quality return in a trade.

Vogelbach is certainly a quality return for Detroit.

While it’s a relatively high price to pay for the Mariners, Seattle is in need of some stability in the bullpen.

Bullpen need

Among other statistical finishes last season, the M’s bullpen ended 2017 ranked 16^th in fWAR, 20^th in FIP and 21^st in home runs per nine innings.

Wilson could certainly help Seattle’s bullpen considering he has been nothing but stable in his time in a Tigers uniform.

Since the start of the 2015 season, the right-hander ranks 14^th in terms of the lowest home run to fly ball rate ahead of the likes of Kenley Jansen, Mark Melancon and Felipe Rivero.

What’s more, he checks in at 15^th in innings pitched and walks allowed per nine innings and 52^nd in home runs allowed per nine innings among 186 qualified relievers in the same span.

All told, Wilson owns a 3.20 ERA, a 3.75 FIP and a 1.21 FIP in a Tigers uniform.

Boosting his trade value even more is the fact that the 31-year-old has two more years of controllability remaining via arbitration (according to Spotrac).

In this hypothetical trade, he’d slot into a Seattle bullpen that has already lost Emilio Pagan and Thyago Vieira this winter and will see David Phelps and Marc Rzepczynski hit free agency next winter.