Detroit Tigers: 5 teams that could be good trade partners this offseason

The Detroit Tigers have a golden opportunity to improve this roster and take advantage of a weak AL Central. However, it's a very weak free agent class overall. The Tigers may have to turn to the trade route to make some substantial improvements to the team.

Thankfully, there are quite a few teams that would make sense as trade partners. The Tigers have a surplus of young arms, but lack young, quality bats. There are many teams out there where the exact opposite is the case.

In fact, several playoff teams in 2023 had lackluster starting pitching, and had early exits because of it. You can bet those teams will want to address that this offseason.

Since the Tigers need bats, it only makes sense for them to deal some pitching in order to get some. So with that being said, here are five teams that make sense as trade partners for the Detroit Tigers this offseason.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals were wildly disappointing in 2023. They were heavy favorites to win the NL Central, but ended up finishing in last place at 71-91.

Rumors are already starting to surface that the Cardinals are expected to be big spenders in the free agent market, specifically in the starting pitching department. Considering they were 26th in baseball with a 5.07 ERA among their starters, that's not entirely surprising.

The Cardinals also have a pretty crowded outfield. Top prospect Jordan Walker, Lars Nootbaar, Tyler O'Neill, Alec Burleson, and Dylan Carlson are among the guys that got time in the outfield for St. Louis this past year.

Carlson seems to be a guy the Cards are reluctant in moving. His name has come up in many trade rumors over the past couple years, and they've never really been too keen on moving him. However, O'Neill is someone we've been wanting the Tigers to trade for for a while.

He's a free agent after next season, so he wouldn't cost much to acquire. He could definitely use a change of scenery. He and manager Oliver Marmol have never seen eye to eye.

Utilityman Tommy Edman is someone else that could be expendable. He's not far removed from a 5.6 fWAR season in 2022. He wouldn't be too bad of a get.

With the Tigers surplus of starting pitchers, and the Cardinals need for arms, this seems like a great fit for a trade.