Discarded Tigers reliever's career first with Giants makes front office look foolish

When the Tigers announced Kevin McGonigle would make the Opening Day roster, it was hard for fans to care about whatever shuffling was necessary to accomodate him. That's even more true now, when McGonigle just picked up his first walk-off hit to put a series win over the Mariners in the books. He's the fouth-most valuable positon player by bWAR and seventh-most valuable by fWAR just 63 games into his major league career.

The guy that got the boot from the 40-man roster was pitching prospect Dylan Smith, who was DFA'ed and then traded to the Giants in exchange for cash considerations. Smith was solid in brief stints for the Tigers last year, pitching 13 innings for a 1.38 ERA.

He was even ranked in the Tigers' pipeline at No. 21 before he was dealt, which made it a little surprising that the Giants only had to fork over cash.

Again, it was hard to mourn the loss of anyone when the alternative was McGonigle, but Smith gave the Tigers at least a little reason to regret that they let him go on Sunday night, when he earned his first career save over the Cubs on Sunday Night Baseball.

Former top Tigers prospect Dylan Smith picks up first career save with Giants after trade

It might've been nice for the Tigers to have a guy like Smith, capable of holding down a 2-1 lead in extra innings with a runner on first, especially when Detroit has blown 21 leads so far this season and a number of the bullpen arms responsible don't have the same prospect pedigree as Smith. (Why were Ricky Vanasco and Connor Seabold ever on this roster?)

The Tigers made a lot of confounding offseason moves, but this was certainly one of the more puzzling. There was reason to hope that Smith would pass through waivers unclaimed, but it makes sense that someone snatched him up, especially when Scott Harris was willing to sell so low on him.

Still, congratulations are in order for Smith, who the Tigers never seemed fully sold on even before they eventually traded him. He's already proving himself to be a trusted late-inning arm in San Francisco after Matt Gage went onto the IL, having gotten the Giants through an extra inning against the Pirates, to the end of a blowout vs. Chicago, and now a save on Sunday. He clearly wasn't going to get the opportunity to prove himself in Detroit, but we're glad it's happening somewhere else.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow