Detroit Tigers: Five remaining trade candidates

Michael Fulmer

Michael Fulmer has been one of the most popular names on the trade market this year. He has been closely connected to the Yankees who were said to be dangling Clint Frazier, among others.

However, the consensus is that Fulmer is likely going to start 2018 sporting the Old English D. From the MLBTradeRumors article:

"He has come up here and there in rumors, though there’s still no reason to believe Detroit is willing to move its best asset for anything less than a haul."

“A haul” is one way to describe the Tigers asking price, and rightfully so. The Tigers were asking a king’s ransom to move Fulmer, who is under team control for the next five seasons.

Yu Darvish, Jake Arrieta, Alex Cobb and Lance Lynn are all still free agents. Gerrit Cole got moved for a fraction of what it would have cost to acquire Fulmer. As such, it seems unlikely that the Tigers will field more questions about their All-Star starter this offseason.

That is a good thing. The Tigers should use Fulmer as the center of their rebuilding project. With a bevy of young starting pitchers coming up through the minors, including Alex Faedo, Beau Burrows and top-100 prospects Franklin Perez and Matt Manning, the Tigers could have a very solid rotation in a few years.

Fulmer, along with current rotation pieces Daniel Norris and Matt Boyd, could help make up a rotation that will help the Tigers contend for another World Series in 3-5 years.

Next: Jose Iglesias to the Padres makes sense

This offseason has been incredibly slow to develop. With Spring training only a month away, there are still plenty of moves left to be made. Expect the Tigers to do whatever is necessary to make this team competitive 3-5 years down the road.