Detroit Tigers: 4 Players who could still be traded

Even though the non-waiver trade deadline has passed, the Detroit Tigers can still make trades up until August 31, and four players could be dealt.

Last season, the Detroit Tigers traded both Justin Verlander and Justin Upton after the non-waiver trade deadline had passed. While the team won’t be making any moves that franchise-altering this season, there are still a handful players who could be dealt between now and August 31, which is the deadline for a player to be eligible for the postseason roster.

Tigers fans are likely more familiar than most about how August trades work. However, here is a quick rundown for those who need a refresher. More details can be found on MLBTradeRumors.

A team can place any player on revocable waivers, where they are eligible to be claimed by any team for the next 47 hours. If they are not claimed, they are eligible to be traded to any team. If they are claimed, the team has three options: pull the player off waivers and keep them, work out a trade with the team that claimed them, or allow the player to leave for that team, where they will absorb the entirety of their contract.

If more than one team claims a certain player, than the team with priority is the team with the worst record in that team’s league.

What this means for Detroit

So for the Tigers this season, there are a few players that the team will likely explore placing on waivers and trading. Players like Nicholas Castellanos and Matthew Boyd are on team friendly contracts and have lots of team control, so they are unlikely to be placed on waivers. Multiple teams will try to claim them in an attempt to ‘block’ their competition from acquiring them. The Tigers won’t let those players walk, and so a trade would be unlikely happen.

Likewise, the Tigers could place Victor Martinez on waivers, but no team is going to claim him and risk having to absorb his contract. He would then be free for the Tigers to trade him to any team, where they would only owe him a prorated portion of the league minimum.

It’s almost certain that the Tigers will pass Martinez through waivers, but equally unlikely that any team will attempt to trade for him unless he performs much better in August.

Without further ado, here are four Detroit Tigers who could be dealt this August, and which teams may show interest.