Tigers somehow made the worst possible non-Tarik Skubal trade at deadline

The Tigers waited until the last few minutes of the trade deadline to pull off their biggest move: trading Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers. Now that the dust from the deadline has settled a bit, we can look back on how the Tigers fared with a bit more of a level head but, spoiler alert, it still doesn't look great.

The Dodgers seemed like the frontrunners for Flaherty before the trade actually came down, with the general sentiment being that if both Flaherty and Tarik Skubal were traded, the Dodgers were the best fit for the former and the Orioles were the best fit for the latter.

Detroit, thankfully, did not trade Skubal, instead leaving him to anchor a rotation that was left with two healthy starters after the Flaherty trade. While we can all rejoice that the Tigers didn't do the worst possible thing by giving up Skubal, their return for Flaherty sort of counteracted the relief of Skubal staying put.

LA sent catcher/first baseman Thayron Liranzo (in High-A) and shortstop Trey Sweeney (Triple-A) in return for Flaherty, who are now ranked Nos. 5 and 24 in the Tigers' pipeline. That's a great start, but... is that it? Yep, that's it.

Tigers return in Jack Flaherty trade with Dodgers was deeply underwhelming

Compare the return for Flaherty to the return the Blue Jays got for Yusei Kikuchi, who's in a walk year just like Flaherty, but has been undeniably worse on the mound this season: pitcher Jake Bloss (now No. 3 in Toronto's pipeline), major league left fielder Joey Loperfido, and infielder Will Wagner (No. 22).

Then, if you want to get even angrier, compare the return for Flaherty to what the Marlins got for Tanner Scott: pitchers Robby Snelling (No. 44 prospect in baseball, per MLB) and Adam Mazur (No. 8 in Miami's pipeline), utilityman Graham Pauley (No. 12), and first baseman Jay Beshears.

There's no reason why the Tigers couldn't have gotten a couple more prospects in return for Flaherty. The Padres have a better farm system and were still willing to send more for a closer who will pitch 100+ fewer innings than Flaherty will by the end of the season. It wouldn't be too presumptive to say that the Dodgers were probably desperate, given the White Sox taking Garrett Crochet off the board at the last minute.

Liranzo and Sweeney are good prospects, and Sweeney could even be up in the majors soon as a stopgap shortstop, replacing Quadruple-A Tiger Ryan Kreidler, but the Tigers should've gotten more, traded Flaherty before his injury woes emerged, or just kept him.

Scott Harris, what were you thinking?