Detroit Tigers: 5 teams that would make good trade partners at Winter Meetings

The Winter Meetings are underway, and with that, some trades will certainly go down. The hope is the Tigers will be doing some wheeling and dealing.

Scott Harris promised an active offseason, and he's off to a good start in that department with the trade for Mark Canha and the signing of Kenta Maeda. But, as I've said at least a dozen times already, there's still more work to be done.

It's not just the Tigers that should be making moves at the Winter Meetings. There are many teams looking for upgrades to their roster, and with the free agent market being what it is, trades may be a better route for them.

With all that said, we've come up with a list of five teams that could be good trade partners with the Tigers at this year's meetings. Some of these team have already had active offseasons, while others have been pretty quiet so far. Let's get started.

Cincinnati Reds

The Reds have been all over the trade market for starting pitcher. They've been rumored to be in on names such as Tyler Glasnow and Shane Bieber. With how bad their rotation was last season, it make sense they would look to some big names.

While the Tigers don't necessarily have any big names to offer, they do have some young, controllable starters that could be of interest to Cincy. Matt Manning seems like a prime candidate to be moved, and with the Tigers need for young, controllable bats, the Reds might be the perfect fit here.

They are loaded with young hitters, and they still have more on the way. If they could work something out where the Tigers could land Christian Encarnacion-Strand, that would be a huge win for the Tigers. That being said, he's not the end-all-be-all.

The Reds might be the No. 1 trade partner at the Winter Meetings. They have a lot to offer, and a desire for starting pitching, which the Tigers can offer. Scott Harris should be on the phone with Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall as much as possible.

St. Louis Cardinals

Staying in the NL Central, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak appears to be in job-saving mode. Their starting rotation was a mess last year, and he's been doing everything he can to try to fix it.

Their first two moves were to sign a couple of veterans in Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn. Not much to sniff at there. But the real needle-mover was when they signed Sonny Gray, who was one of the better starters on the market this year. He'll actually make a difference for them.

But they are not done. Reportedly, they've also checked in on Glasnow. You can bet they're in on other big names as well. The Cardinals don't want a repeat of last season, and seem willing to do to avoid that.

Luckily, much like for the Reds, the Tigers can help them out. They have starting pitching to offer. Again, Manning is a candidate here.

The Cardinals actually have some established big leaguers that could be of interest to Scott Harris. Everyone knows by now that I love Tyler O'Neill, but utiltyman Brendan Donovan wouldn't be a bad get either. He walks quite a bit, and doesn't strike out a lot.

The Cardinals are desparate. They have a long-standing tradition of winning, and they didn't do a ton of that last year. Harris has an opportunity to take advantage and swipe a good player from St. Louis.

Los Angeles Dodgers

A trade between these two teams at the trade deadline obviously didn't work out the way either was expecting it to, but why not try again? After all, the Dodgers still need pitching help, and the Tigers still need young hitters.

The Dodgers have quite a few prospects that are blocked by established big leaguers. Michael Busch is the first one that comes to mind. He would be starting on a lot of major league teams, but the Dodgers have these guys named Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, who played a lot of second base this past year in addition to the outfield.

Busch got a cup of coffee this yar and it went very poorly, but it's hard to put stock into 81 big league plate appearances, especially since he's mashed at every level of the minors. He is a bit older at 26 years old, but he's more than ready for the big leagues.

The Tigers don't have to get Busch in a trade, but he'd be a great add. The Dodgers have plenty of other options to trade for. Heck, if they get Shohei Ohtani. maybe they could spare someone like James Outman, who put up 4.4 fWAR in 2023 as a rookie.

It may not have worked at the trade deadline, but that doesn't mean they can't try again. The Tigers and Dodgers still make sense as trade partners.

Atlanta Braves

Scott Harris and Alex Anthopoulos have already traded together once with Joe Jimenez, so why not do it again?

The Braves appear to be in win-now mode. They're rumored to be interested in increasing their already high payroll this offseason. While the Tigers don't have anybody with a high payroll outside of Javier Baez, that doesn't the two teams can't swing a trade.

The Braves are yet another team that needs starting pitching help. While their farm system isn't what it used to be, they still have pieces that could be of interest to the Tigers. They were rumored to be interested in Vaughn Grissom around the trade deadline, and he's shown flashes in the past.

Beyond that, the Braves have a few interesting arms in their system who could help the Tiger sooner rather than later. Darius Vines, AJ Smith-Sawver, Luis De Avila, and Dylan Dodd are among some names to watch there.

With the Braves wanting to win a World Series at any cost, they should be more than willing to move some pieces. If you're Scott Harris, it's time to capitalize.