Detroit Tigers: 5 shortstop trade targets

Most fans are counting on the Detroit Tigers to sign a big free agent shortstop this offseason, and the odds are they will. But the Tigers aren’t the only team in the market.

It’s Contender November here at motor City Bengals, and we’ve spent much of the last week discussing those free agent shortstops — Javier Báez, Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and Trevor Story.

But what if the unthinkable happens and the Detroit Tigers whiff on all of the top free agent shortstops? There are internal options, like Isaac Paredes and Ryan Kreidler, but if Detroit truly wants to contend they may prefer players with more of a proven tack record.

So, let’s look at five potential trades the Tigers could pursue should they strike out on the free agent front. We won’t pretend these are explosive and exciting deals, but it’s hard to persuade teams to part with star shortstops.

Detroit Tigers Shortstop Trade Option Number 1 – Miguel Rojas

Miguel Rojas is a thoroughly average big-league ballplayer. He’s a career .265/.320/.365 hitter with 33 home runs in more than 2,300 at-bats. He doesn’t walk a ton, but he’s also one of the hardest hitters in baseball to strikeout, with just a 12.7% strikeout rate for his career. Detroit’s shortstops struck out 28.1% of the time last year. FanGraphs ranks Rojas as the 4th best defensive shortstop over the past three years, while Fielding Bible has him slightly above average, and Statcast sees him as slightly below average.

The Marlins just signed him to a two-year, $10-million extension, and they consider him their clubhouse leader, so perhaps they aren’t interested in trading him at all. But, maybe they’d think about it if the Tigers offer an interesting young infielder in return:

It’s true Isaac Paredes hasn’t done much yet in his MLB career, but he turns 23 right around the same time Rojas turns 33, and his strong minor-league track record suggests he has more upside. Miami theoretically already has Rojas’ replacement in Jazz Chisholm Jr., who struggled a bit at short this year but has all the tools to excel there. Rojas wouldn’t move the needle for Tigers fans, but Detroit finished with -0.1 fWAR from their shortstops last year, and Rojas’ 2.8 fWAR would be a significant upgrade. His low salary would also let the Tigers spend bigger in other areas.

Detroit Tigers Shortstop Trade Option Number 2 – Paul DeJong

Paul DeJong has had a very interesting MLB career. As a rookie in 2017 he looked overmatched at shortstop, but the Cardinals lived with it because he hit .285 with 25 home runs in just 108 games. His offensive production predictably slipped due to some correction in his batted-ball luck, but at the same time he was making huge strides on defense. In 2019 he hit just .233, but he made the All-Star team and played plus defense at shortstop while bashing 30 home runs, easily the most ever by a Cardinals shortstop.

Things haven’t been so great since then, though. DeJong still played strong defense this year, but his offense dropped dramatically, with career lows in batting average (.197) and wRC+ (86). Cardinals fans discussed moving on, and then the team seemingly did. Edmundo Sosa saw more starts at shortstop in September/October than DeJong.

Complicating matters is DeJong’s contract, which guarantees him $6 million in 2022 and $9 million in 2023, with club options for 2024 and 2025. That’s a bargain for the 4-5 WAR player he was in 2019, but a bit rich for the 1.6 WAR player he was this season. It would be a calculated risk for the Tigers, but they probably wouldn’t have to part with much to land DeJong:

Michael Fulmer developed into Detroit’s most reliable bullpen stopper this year, and while he would add more depth to St. Louis’ strong bullpen, the Cardinals could also transition him back into a starter, or use him in a hybrid role. Jacob Robson is a bit of a throw-in here, as he’s likely to be removed from Detroit’s 40-man roster soon, and would provide some emergency outfield depth for the Cardinals.

Detroit Tigers Shortstop Trade Option Number 3 – Joey Wendle

Strictly speaking, Joey Wendle isn’t a shortstop. For the majority of his career he has played second or third base, and he was actually a Gold Glove finalist at third base this year. But let’s ignore that for now and do some speculation. Wendle does have 414 career innings at shortstop, and he graded out pretty darn well there in 2021, so why not give it a shot full time?

Wendle isn’t a stellar offensive player, and he struggles against left-handed pitching, but he has some pop, some speed, a career 103 wRC+, and in the two seasons in which he has seen 500 plate appearances he produced 3.8 fWAR and 2.6 fWAR. Joey Wendle turns 32 next April, he’s heading into his 2nd year of arbitration, and the Rays have a small army of potential replacements for him, so they may be motivated sellers.

Gage Workman would aid in Tampa’s never-ending quest to free space on their 40-man roster, and he also happens to be a pretty solid prospect. Tampa can afford to bring him along slowly for a few seasons, and he has the upside of an everyday regular.

Detroit Tigers Shortstop Trade Option Number 5 – Kevin Newman

Arguably the most uninspiring player on this list, Kevin Newman has been the least productive regular in baseball over the last two seasons, and he just put together his first positive defensive season. Newman is also 28 and heading into his first arbitration-eligible year, so he’s going to get slightly more expensive. So why even consider trading for him?

Well, not everything about Kevin Newman is bad. He’s a plus runner, he struck out in just 7.4% of his plate appearances last year, and he has some history of positive play. He won the Cape Cod League batting title twice, and as a rookie in 2019 he batted .308 with 12 home runs and 16 steals in 130 games, for a wRC+ of 109. The last two seasons make 2019 appear to be a fluke, but maybe there’s a way to meld Newman’s decent offensive 2019 with his decent defensive 2021 and end up with a solid player?

In any event, it probably wouldn’t cost much at all for the Tigers to land Newman from a clearly rebuilding Pirates team that likely wants to figure out if Cole Tucker or Oneil Cruz can handle shortstop on a regular basis at the MLB level.

The Tigers just added Elvin Rodriguez to their 40-man roster the other day, and while he probably doesn’t project as a starter at the MLB level, the Pirates might have the luxury of giving it a shot for a year or two. And if that doesn’t work out he has a decent enough arm to potentially carve out a role in the bullpen.