Detroit Tigers-Winter trade partners series: Oakland A’s

As the season comes down to the end, each week, we will present a total hypothetical concept of trade partners for the Detroit Tigers. This week, we focus on the Oakland A’s.

I know what you are thinking. Writing this article for the sake of “boredom” or clicks and that more than likely, these trade partner ideas for the Detroit Tigers will never happen.

You are probably correct but for the sake of using our imaginations and looking around the league with the possible new collective bargaining agreement around the corner,  there could be some avenues for the Tigers to pursue and other names you may not know or even thought about.

If you have not checked out Baseball Trade Values, it is a site that allows you to put in trade values for any team and determine whether or not a trade is fair or not.

In this case, they posted an interesting article about an A’s rebuild coming on due to several factors. The author and the founder of the site,  John Bitzer, stated his case very well and listed a few players that I think, could be a good fit for the Detroit Tigers next season.

Heading into play as of September 23rd, the A’s are 3 and a half back of the AL Wild Card. They have made the postseason three years in a row under manager Bob Melvin. They had a three-season run in 2012 until 2014 so Oakland has always found a way to stay competitive with a small budget.

Bitzer points out they are in a similar situation like they were in 2014 with a core that went all in before losing to the Kansas City Royals only this time, with the pandemic hurting the team’s finances and the chances of a new stadium seem to be slipping away.

Another item that Bitzer points out is the state of the Oakland A’s farm system, which is ranked 27th out of 30 according to Baseball America. While the Tigers farm system at a glance does seem top-heavy with Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, and Ryan Kreidler as possible graduates for next season, the last few drafts have given Tigers fans a change in philosophy as Detroit has been taking high school bats recently (Colt Keith, Isaac Pacheco) and whichever the new director of player development wants to go.

Before you say “don’t trade the future!!!” if you want Detroit to continue to get better next season, moves, whether in free agency or trades, can make Detroit better

So let’s look at the talent that the A’s could trade-off this off-season and three players that could benefit the Tigers the most.