Former Tiger Jahmai Jones traded to resurgent AL playoff contender

The Tigers designating Jahmai Jones for assignment last week was sad but inevitable and long overdue. Jones had completely lost his ability to hit lefty pitching, but AJ Hinch insisted on sending him out there to kill rallies and end innings — until he couldn't anymore.

Tigers fans were never going to miss Jahmai Jones, the player after what he did (or, rather, didn't do) in Detroit this year, but it's been hard not to miss Jahmai Jones, the guy. It was obvious that he was a key clubhouse personality, and no one can say they didn't love watching him succeed last year.

So, on one hand, we can be happy that he's ending up with a new team. On the other, it would be really hard to see him succeed with this one in particular. Per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, the Tigers have traded Jones to the Red Sox in exchange for a player to be named later.

Detroit and Boston are in very similar places coming out of the first half. Both underperformed and are still sitting under .500 but have gotten hot as of late and are pushing their ways back into the postseason picture. The Tigers are 3.5 games out, and the Red Sox are only back by half a game.

Tigers trade Jahmai Jones to Red Sox after sad but inevitable DFA

The Red Sox never dug themselves a hole as deep as the Tigers got themselves into in May. Instead, all of April, May, and June were .400ish months for Boston, leaving them floating in a seemingly inescapable just-below-average state.

But then they swept the Yankees toward the end of June. From June 25 to the last game before the All-Star break, they went 14-2 (including a nine-game winning streak right before the break) and moved up 4.5 games in the Wild Card chase.

The odds that the Red Sox help Jones unlock something he's lost seem pretty slim, but say that they do, and the Red Sox end up in the last Wild Card spot that the TIgers are desperately gunning for? That would hurt.

There's still a little while before we have to worry about that in earnest, so for now we can just wish Jones good luck with his new team. If anyone deserves to have a resurgent second half, it's him. (We just hope it doesn't come at the Tigers' expense.)

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