Detroit Tigers: 3 buy-low trade candidates to help out the offense

The Detroit Tigers need to do something to fix their pathetic offense

I hate to beat the same old dead horse, but the Detroit Tigers have a historically bad offense. They’re only averaging a putrid 3.13 runs per game—just one hundredth of a run ahead of the 1904 Tigers for the worst in franchise history.

Clearly, something needs to be done. They can’t go a whole season with an offense that’s this bad and not make any changes. If they aren’t going to fire hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh, then maybe they should look outside the organization for some offensive help—because it sure isn’t coming from inside the organization.

With the MLB Trade Deadline about a week away now, the rumor mill will surely start to heat up pretty soon. The Detroit Tigers will almost certainly receive calls about their relievers if they haven’t already, but they could always swing a small, buy-low trade to to acquire a struggling veteran in the hopes a change of scenery will do them some good.

The most likely candidates the Detroit Tigers could acquire would be on expiring contracts, so it wouldn’t cost them much to get these players. It would give these players a little two-month audition to see if they show any improvement and are deserving of an extension to stay in Detroit.

With the current state of the Tigers as an organization, they should be willing to try anything to get out of this funk. Here are three buy-low trade candidates to help out the offense.

1B Dominic Smith-New York Mets

The Mets are rumored to be shopping their former top prospect. Smith has shown flashes of the hitter New York thought he could be in the past, mainly in the shortened 2020 season where he slashed .313/.377/.616 with a .993 OPS and finished 13th in NL MVP voting.

Sadly, injuries and underperformance have hampered Smith’s career to this point. He has an awful .560 OPS in 152 plate appearances this season. He is also a man without a position, playing the outfield, first base, and serving as the team’s DH. He’s probably best served as a DH, but if a team acquires him and has him play in the field, first base is probably the place to stick him at.

The Mets recently acquired Dan Vogelbach from the Pittsburgh Pirates to be their DH, so it seems as though they are ready to move on from Dom Smith. He has two years of team control left after this year, so he is not on an expiring contract.

He’s never been a high walk guy, but he’s never been a super high strikeout guy either. His groundball rate of 47.5% is highest since his rookie season in 2017, and he’s sporting a career-low ISO of .090. However, his hard-hit rate is the second highest of his career.

The reason why a trade for Smith makes sense for the Detroit Tigers is their current hole at first base with Spencer Torkelson down in Triple-A trying to figure things out. They can’t have Harold Castro, who is a butcher in the field, play over there every day. They seem reluctant to put Eric Haase over there, even though that would give them another way to get his hot bat in the lineup.

At just 27 years old, Smith is far from a lost cause, especially since he’s had success in the past. Since New York has found a replacement for the former first-round pick, it likely won’t take much to acquire him. He is currently on the 10-day IL with a right ankle sprain, but with the aforementioned two years of control left, it’s still worth pursuing this deal.