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.

Baltimore Orioles

The Orioles would be a good trade partner for pretty much every team given their riches of young talent, both at the big league level and in the minors. They are yet another team with a need for starting pitching. They got by in the regular season, but it proved to be a weakness come playoff time.

Much like at the trade deadline, they've been surprisingly quiet so far this offseason. They really haven't done much of anything. They're going to be good for a while, but they have an opportunity to be a World Series contender with the right moves.

They really should be in on all the big name starters. We all know the Angelos family has a history og being cheap, but they still have plenty of assets to work out a trade. But if they don't want to be in on any big names, the Tigers have some mid range options for them.

If I'm Scott Harris, I'm having some long conversations with Mike Elias as well. They have loads of young talent. This is a huge opportunity to get a good, young player in return for a starting pitcher.

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.