Detroit Tigers: Could Yankees make blockbuster deal for Matt Boyd?

Everybody knows the Detroit Tigers are looking to sell, sell, sell as the July 31st trade deadline approaches, and rumors continue to pop up concerning some of the organizations most valuable assets.

Detroit Tigers starter Matthew Boyd has been largely at the center of much of the trade rumors concerning the Tigers over the past few months. Boyd has emerged as one of the most sought after commodities in the league as the trade deadline inches closer, with several teams rumored to have some sort of interest in the lefty.

This weekend MLB Trade Rumors listed its top 60 trade candidates with the deadline approaching and the Detroit Tigers had three players in the top ten. Interestingly, Boyd was ranked at number nine, behind Nicholas Castellanos (six) and Shane Greene (eight).

Despite this, Boyd is still the most predominantly discussed Tiger when it comes to trade speculations. The latest development in this comes from MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince, who on Sunday posted a list of five trade ideas so crazy they just might work.

On the list was a potential blockbuster deal between the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees in which New York would acquire Boyd and Detroit in return receiving a haul of some of the Yankees’ top prospects. Castrovince writes that the Yankees are the team with the most incentive and resources to overwhelm the Tigers in a trade for Boyd.

Boyd’s 3.95 ERA and 12.0 K/9 this season would make him a tremendous boost to New York’s rotation as they push for a World Series. On the other hand, receiving three of the Yankees’ top ten prospects, all position players, in return could be exactly what Al Avila is looking for.

In Castrovince’s hypothetical trade, Detroit would receive OF Estevan Florial, C Anthony Seigler, and OF Antonio Cabello. Currently ranked first, sixth, and ninth respectively among Yankees prospects by MLB Pipeline, each of these players could serve as solid additions for the organization’s mission of bolstering the farm system bats. However, none of them seem quite ready to make the jump to the major leagues in the near future.

Right now, this is all just speculation. If a deal such as this were to happen in real life, however, it would be hard for Detroit Tigers fans to say the organization didn’t get enough in return for Boyd. Though the deal would lack a young, big-league ready position player, it’s hard to complain about receiving three of an organization’s top prospects.