Tigers Rumors: Jose Iglesias to the Padres makes sense

Tigers rumors: General Manager Al Avila has made it clear that shortstop Jose Iglesias may not be on the Tigers much longer. Trading him to the Padres makes sense for the right price.

The Detroit Tigers are willing to listen to offers on nearly everyone on their major league roster. In particular, any player that they feel won’t be with the team when they are ready to contend again. Jose Iglesias, who will be a free agent after the 2019 season, certainly fits that bill.

The 28-year-old has been with the Tigers since midseason 2013, when he came over from the Boston Red Sox. The Tigers sent Avisail Garcia to the White Sox and Brayan Villarreal to the Red Sox in exchange for Iggy.

Iglesias has been the starting shortstop ever since, but his offensive performance has left a lot to be desired. Iggy hit .300 with 11 home runs in his All-Star 2014 season, but overall has produced a negative offensive output in the Motor City.

Across his 3.5 seasons in Detroit, Iglesias has slashed .268/.312/.357 with an 82 OPS+. He has a 5.2 bWAR in that time, but almost all of that value comes from his elite defense.

The Tigers have not been shy about Iglesias’ future with the team. General Manager Al Avila was quoted by 97.1 The Ticket discussing Iggy’s timeline with the Tigers.

"“We’ve talked about it on a regular basis,” said Avila. “He’s one of those guys that, quite frankly, probably will not be with us in the long run. We have to make sure that we develop a good shortstop in our system for our future.”"

Adding onto this situation is the fact that the Tigers will head to arbitration to settle Iggy’s contract, something they have not done since 2001. Iglesias filed at $6.8MM while the Tigers countered at $5.6MM.

So, with Avila publicly stating that the team is not invested in Iglesias long-term, and the two sides inevitably going to battle it out over a contract, a trade sooner rather than later seems like a possibility.

Enter the Padres.