Detroit Tigers: Five remaining trade candidates

Jose Iglesias

The headlines loved Jose Iglesias over the last month. First, GM Al Avila went on 97.1 The Ticket and proclaimed that he does not see Iglesias as a part of the teams future.

"“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.”"

This certainly puts Iglesias squarely on the trade block. While the Tigers don’t have an obvious replacement at shortstop, they could always move Dixon Machado over to short and use any one of their utility infield options to cover second.

In the short-term this is not an appealing option. However, the Tigers will listen to offers that could bring in an interesting prospect for the future.

We discussed a potential deal with the Padres a few days ago that also included some of the hangups regarding an Iglesias trade.

At this point, no contending teams are in need of a shortstop. With a salary that will eclipse $5 million dollars next year (his arbitration case is still open, another snafu that points to the Tigers disinterest in him) it seems unlikely that a team will want to pay that much money for a backup infielder.

All this points to a weak market for the defensive wizard.  If the Tigers cannot move him now, they should move him at the trade deadline. If they do not, he will sign elsewhere in the offseason and they will not get anything back for him.

Without much of a market, the Tigers may be smart to hold until the deadline. That way, if another team suffers from an injury and needs a shortstop in a pinch they will be able to market him and hopefully get a return that matches his value as an elite fielding shortstop.