Blue Jays star floated as a trade deadline rental for uncertain Tigers position

Although the Tigers kept most of their key players from 2024, the infield looks dramatically different going into 2025. Gleyber Torres being signed to play second base shifted things, and then Matt Vierling getting hurt left Detroit without a clear third baseman (again). Colt Keith will be at first, replacing Spencer Torkelson, Torres will man second, Javy Báez and Trey Sweeney will platoon at shortstop, and Zach McKinstry and Andy Ibáñez are likely to take turns at third.

We'll have to see how Keith at first plays, and McKinstry and Ibáñez are just temporary options while Vierling is on the shelf, but shortstop is another thing altogether. Báez is unmovable (even though the Tigers did try him out in center field over the weekend, for some reason) and the team doesn't seem high on Sweeney, but anything is an improvement from Báez.

Both Sweeney and Báez's batting average and OPS project lower than the average MLB shortstop, which could leave a glaring offensive hole in an already light-hitting lineup, if Sweeney doesn't find his groove.

However, Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press had an idea for a potential temporary solution. He proposed the Blue Jays' Bo Bichette, who will be a free agent at the end of the season, as a rental the Tigers could take on at the trade deadline.

Blue Jays star Bo Bichette named as a rental shortstop replacement for Javy Báez, Trey Sweeney

Bichette's name was floated a lot last year, to the point where even he seemed positive that he wouldn't be a Blue Jay after July 30. Even though he ended up staying put, it seems unlikely that he'll remain in Toronto after he hits free agency, unless the organization were to shift course and work out an extension before the middle of the summer.

His offense took an ugly nosedive last season after he picked up his second All-Star nod and received MVP votes for his 2023 campaign. He hit .225 with a .598 OPS, both the lowest of his career, in 2024, and the $17 million the Blue Jays owe him this year didn't exactly make him an attractive trade candidate. If he can pick it up in the first half of this season, the Blue Jays will probably be fielding a lot of calls about him from any team in need of a stopgap middle infielder, assuming they are out of contention and willing to swing deals.

Getting Bichette would mean a lot more time on the bench for Báez and probably an option to Triple-A for Sweeney, but if neither of them are working out by late July and Bichette is looking better, then the Tigers simply might not have a choice.