One Tigers player almost certain to get traded during the Winter Meetings

The Tigers have yet to make an offseason splash, unless you count re-signing Tanner Rainey to a minor league deal (we don't), but that could change in an instant at Winter Meetings, where the stove will (hopefully) be on full blast.

Detroit has been connected to a fair few free agents and trade candidates: Michael King, Pete Fairbanks, Ketel Marte, and of course, Alex Bregman among them. A Kyle Finnegan move should get done sooner rather than later, as there's mutual interest from both parties for a return.

If the Tigers do trade for a guy like Marte — even if it wouldn't make a lot of sense for their already very crowded infield — it's going to take a huge haul.

Scott Harris declined to name any untouchable prospects at the trade deadline, but it's hard to believe that the Tigers would budge on at least their top two, Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark, and would be hesitant to move Nos. 3 and 4 Josue Briceño and Bryce Rainer.

If the top four are indeed some degree of untouchable, that leaves No. 5 Thayron Liranzo wide open to be dangled as trade bait.

Tigers' No. 5 prospect Thayron Liranzo could be a key trade chip at Winter Meetings

There are other candidates here, namely one of Hao-Yu Lee or Max Anderson, both of whom could be in the running for the Tigers' opening at third base if they don't sign Bregman (again), but Liranzo could be the most potent in a trade despite his down year in Double-A.

Liranzo, who came over from the Dodgers in last year's Jack Flaherty trade, hit .206 with a .659 OPS in 88 games with the SeaWolves after being promoted at the beginning of the season. Still, the Tigers didn't want to let him go for free in the Rule 5 Draft, so they added him to the roster at the Nov. 18 deadline.

Despite being listed as a catcher and first baseman, he split his time between catcher and DH pretty evenly throughout the 2025 season. The Tigers have a Gold Glove winner behind the plate in Dillon Dingler, and they typically prefer to leave their DH spot open for players to cycle through depending on AJ Hinch's preferences for any given game. A guy with a lot of projected power who looks more like a full-time DH than anything else doesn't exactly fit into the Tigers' schema.

Let's just hope that the Tigers actually do something next week. They have the prospects, they should have some breathing room in the budget, so let's get to work.