Detroit Tigers: Exploring Michael Fulmer Trade Scenarios

The Dodgers are the team most connected to Fulmer at this point. While they have a solid farm system, it’s still hard to imagine a deal getting done unless they include star right-hander Walker Buehler, who is currently injured. Buehler is 23 and has a 3.44 ERA in 10 appearances for the Dodgers this season. He boasts a 9.29 K/9 and just a 2.06 BB/9.

It doesn’t make any sense for the Dodgers to deal Buehler for Fulmer, and it doesn’t make sense for the Tigers to deal Fulmer for anything less than Buehler.

If Buehler is off the table, the Tigers would absolutely need LA’s number one prospect, outfielder Alex Verdugo.

Verdugo is 22 and was ranked as the 27th ranked prospect in all of baseball preseason. He has hit .228 in 24 big league games in the last two seasons, but is slashing an absurd .350/.393/.513 at Triple-A. Still, he doesn’t provide a ton of home run or stolen base potential, with 13 as his career-high for each.

Gavin Lux is an interesting second base prospect that we discussed in yesterday’s post, but unless the Tigers can wrestle Buehler and Verdugo, this deal isn’t likely to get done.

For the Dodgers, who are also interested in Manny Machado, they likely won’t part with their top two prospects to acquire Fulmer. If the Tigers accepted any less than that, they would be selling Fulmer short.