Should the Detroit Tigers deal their pitching for bats?

The Detroit Tigers need an offensive boost; could they seek help once Matt Manning and Casey Mize return?

It’s no secret that for the Detroit Tigers, the AL Central, a playoff spot, and a .500 record are all an uphill battle through the rest of the season. Heading into Friday night’s contest, the Tigers boast a 9-23 record and are nine games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins.

The team has had to deal with injuries, especially to their pitching, but the primary reason the Detroit Tigers have not had a better start lies with the offense. Second-year player Akil Baddoo recently received a demotion. Top prospect Spencer Torkelson is in the middle of a nasty skid, and Jonathan Schoop is just now starting to come out of hibernation with his bat.

The struggles aren’t bound to those three, though. The club is 24th in batting average, 23rd in on-base percentage, last in home runs, 28th in doubles, and last in slugging according to ESPN. Interestingly, they’re 11th in total strikeouts, which is a past plague, but it comes at the expense of essentially all of their power.

Conversely, the club has weathered the storm in many ways with their pitching. Eduardo Rodriguez looks very much like the solid mid-rotation arm many expected upon his signing. Tarik Skubal has taken the next step with superb strike-throwing and stuff. The bullpen, additionally, is regarded as one of the top relief corps in the American League.

As a team, the Detroit Tigers rank 9th in ERA, 14th for fewest home runs allowed, 9th in WHIP, and 10th in batting average against. Despite injuries to Kyle Funkhouser, Andrew Chafin, Casey Mize, Matt Manning, and Tyler Alexander, the team has survived thanks to the likes of Wily Peralta, Beau Brieske, and Alex Faedo.

This newfound bounty of depth raises the question: should the Detroit Tigers move some of their pitching for bats?

It challenges the old cliché about never having enough pitching, but good organizations have taken opportunities to sell high on a certain position group in exchange for help in other areas to make their team more well-rounded.

Examples include the Yankees trading away Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs for Gleyber Torres, or when the Red Sox acquired Craig Kimbrel for Manny Margot, Logan Allen, and others.

While the Tigers don’t have any relief pitcher who would yield that type of return, they could nevertheless deal a starter or a reliever for some solid help on offense. If they were interested in getting crazy and bold, though, which is very unlike the Tigers, they could deal Mize, Manning, or Skubal for a bounty — with Skubal netting the greatest return.

While on paper the move would scream the Tigers are pulling back, if someone like Mize nets back a young, controllable MLB or MLB-ready player in return, it positions the club to potentially fill some upcoming holes long-term while trading away from an organizational strength. Would they trade Casey Mize for St Louis Cardinals prospect Nolan Gorman straight up, for example? Probably not, but with these offensive struggles, maybe they should.