Detroit Tigers: 2 prospects who could be traded this offseason, 1 who should be untouchable

Scott Harris said he's open to trading prospects to make the Detroit Tigers better

The Detroit Tigers need to get better this offseason. There's no question about that. They also need to be willing to do that by any means necessary. Thankfully, president of baseball operations Scott Harris feels the same way.

At last week's GM Meetings, he said he's open to doing anything if it means making the team better—even if he has to trade prospects. That's something that was very refreshing to hear after years of only building the team one way or the other.

With this newfound information, we've come up with a couple of prospects who could be trade chips this offseason. The choices weren't as hard as I expected them to be. I thought about getting ambitious here and making some big names available, but I opted to stay relatively safe with this list.

I also chose one prospect that should be considered untouchable. The prospect I chose has really come into his own over the past year and put his name on the map. It made this a pretty easy choice as well. So without further ado, here's two Detroit Tigers prospects who could be traded this offseason and one that should be considered untouchable.

Two prospects who could be traded: OF Parker Meadows

Meadows was recently added to the 40-man roster to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft. Everyone figures he's in the Tigers' long term plans, but is he really?

Meadows is a former second-round pick back in 2018. He was always considered a project, being drated out of high school, but through the 2021 season, he hadn't really developed at all. He was very athletic, but he had little power and struck out a ton. It looked like he was a bust. He had become an afterthought in the prospect world.

That all changed in 2022, when the power finally came on and the strikeouts finally went down. Meadows hit 20 homers and put up a 124 wRC+ in the minors last year, while lowering his strikeout rate to 18.4% in Double-A. He tweaked his swing in the offseason, and it paid off. He has put himself back in the conversation amongst Tigers fans.

Because of this, Meadows' trade value has theoretically never been higher. He's coming off his best season, and while he's getting up there in age for a prospect at 23 years old, he's still got the tools and now a reworked swing that could make him a legit big leaguer.

You may ask yourself why the Detroit Tigers would trade someone that finally started developing last season, especially in a system so barren of hitting talent? Well, if they can maximize his value in a trade for a player that would make the major league roster better, it would be hard to say no.

C Dillon Dingler

Now we go from a prospect who's value is at its highest, to a prospect who's value is possibly at its lowest. Dillon Dingler was the Detroit Tigers second-round pick in 2020 out of Ohio State. He's quite athletic for a catcher, as the Buckeyes even used him in the outfield during his freshman year.

He looked liked the Tigers future catcher last season, hitting well in High-A West Michigan, putting up a .925 OPS before getting promoted to Double-A Erie, where he struggled a bit. He was also injured for a good chunk of his time in Double-A in 2021, so it was thought that he could easily bounce back in 2022.

Unfortunately, he didn't exactly do that. Dingler slashed just .238/.333/.419 with 14 homers and a 107 wRC+. He did walk 10% of the time, but he also struck out nearly 32% of the time. It just seems like he's stagnated a bit. He'll probably get one last shot to prove himself in Triple-A next year, but it doesn't look good for Dingler at the moment.

Combine this with the fact that the Detroit Tigers are in the market for a catcher this offseason, and that makes Dingler expendable, especially if the Tigers end up getting Willson Contreras. I don't think they will get Contreras, but it seems like the Tigers will add a catcher nonetheless.

Another reason Dingler may be expendeable is the emergence of another catching prospect in Josh Crouch, who probably would have reached Double-A much sooner had Dingler not struggled as much as he did. Crouch had an .811 OPS in West Michigan in 2022 and showed great instincts behind the plate. He is a bit older than Dingler, but he ceratinly seems like the better prospect right now.

Because of his low value, Dingler would probably be a throw-in prospect to finish a deal off. He wouldn't be someone Scott Harris would lead with.