Detroit Tigers: The Five Worst Trades in Franchise History

The Detroit Tigers trade Eugenio Suarez and Jonathon Crawford to the Reds for Alfredo Simon

Searching for a fifth starter ahead of the 2015 season, the Tigers decided to dip into their depleted farm system and sent infielder Eugenio Suarez and former first round pick Jonathon Crawford to the Reds in exchange for big right-hander Alfredo Simon.

Simon was coming off his first All-Star campaign, having gone 15-10 with a 3.44 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP in 2014 with the Reds. He spent the first six seasons of his big league career as a reliever, but immediately made an impact as a starter in Cincinnati. The Tigers hoped he could come in and slot right into the rotation. While he managed to make 31 starts and go 13-12, his lone season in the Motor City was a disaster. Simon posted a 5.05 ERA with a 1.44 WHIP and a 79 ERA+.

He was a free agent after the season and went back to the Reds, no doubt hoping to recapture some of whatever made him an All-Star in 2014. It didn’t pan out, as he went 2-7 with a 9.36 ERA before being done with pro baseball.

The full repercussions of this trade are yet to be known, but it’s safe to say it was a disaster. While many expected that trading a former first round pick would come back to haunt them, Crawford has not even reached the  big leagues and appears to be done with baseball, having not pitched in 2018.

Suarez, however, has developed into a bona fide star in Cincinnati. After hitting 13 home runs with a .280 average in a part-time role in 2015, Suarez truly broke out in 2016. The third baseman hit 21 home runs and stole 11 bases. He followed that up with 26 round-trippers in 2017, and is currently leading the league in slugging in 2018 with a .583 mark (as of this writing).