Detroit Tigers: 4 Michael Fulmer trade destinations

Michael Fulmer Trade Destination 4: Atlanta Braves

The Braves are right in the thick of the same contested division as the Mets, and they’ve been battered by injuries to their pitching this year. Right now the Braves starting staff ranks 22nd in fWAR, and their bullpen ranks 17th. The Tigers and Atlanta have made a few trades over the last few years, and both sides seem happy with the Shane Greene deal, so let’s see if history can repeat itself. Here’s our proposal:

This one takes a bit of projection for Tigers fans, but there’s a lot of upside to these two players. Michael Harris II is a switch-hitting center fielder with impressive contact skills and the chance to hit for above-average power. He’s a tick above-average as a runner, so he may fit best in right field, but that shouldn’t be an issue because he was a talented high-school pitcher with a fastball that touched the low-90s. He’s not a top-100 prospect right now, but he may be by the end of the season.

Spencer Strider showed a lot of promise as a freshman for Clemson in 2018 when he worked mostly as a reliever. The plan was for him to move into the rotation, but he missed all of 2019 with Tommy John surgery, and then threw just 12 innings before the 2020 season was canceled. Strider doesn’t have the size (6′, 195) of a classic workhorse, but he has reportedly been up to 100 MPH this year, his breaking ball shows above-average potential, and he has even flashed a promising changeup. He’s only in Low-A at the moment, but Strider looks like he may at least be an effective MLB reliever, and with further refinement he could become a solid starter.